One of the Worst Movies of the Decade

Rating: 1/10 (10 February 1999)

What an awful waste of time. Terrence Malick has created the most gargantuan piece of crap put on film in recent memory (Godzilla excepted). One of the most insulting things about this "film" is how it discounts the importance of it's profound subject. It seems to disgrace these soldiers actions in lieu of questioning war's nature with bad junior high poetry. I was surprised to see that this film even had a screenplay credit. As for the "symbolism" in the movie, anything can be made to mean anything. This film's supporters inject many types of meaning into the images, yet rarely do they agree. I don't believe that Malick intended for many of these images even to mean anything except that they are "pretty". I don't think he could explain their supposed meaning. He has allowed its supporters to make sense of it for him. This only goes to show how some people think that if it looks nice and makes little sense it has to be good. This film focuses on leaves and iguanas instead of any story that may be hidden in it's dense forest. Overlong, boring, and essentially accomplishing nothing, this film begins with a crocodile and ends with a coconut. As a serious student of film who prides himself on being knowledgeable of all aspects of films, this is probably the worst "serious" war movie ever made.