REVIEW: The New World

Director: Terrence Malick

Original Music: James Horner

Art Direction: David Crank

Starring: Q'Orianka Kilcher, Colin Farrell, Christopher Plummer and Christian Bale


Plot: 1607. A new world is discovered, one full of beauty and promise... and also plenty of land for the English to take over, huh? We're guided into the story of Pocahontas, but you won't find any talking willow trees in this one. Malick takes us through a much more realistic version of the tale. Not just because this one isn't cartoon animated, but because of how we're taken back in time, and lead into a world we've only READ about: exploration, inventions, new lands, different cultures, how they find love, meet loss and learn hate. This film invites you into it's journey...





Wow. From the start of the opening credits to the very end, absolutely stunning. I wanted to bring attention to the music and art directors at the top, because those two (and whoever else working alongside them) deserve JUST as much credit as the actual Director. Job well done to everyone who worked on this film, truly. Oscar-worthy stuff here.
Let me start off with the muscial score. From my knowledge, James Horner is the same man who choreographed the score for Braveheart, and who didn't love THAT music? Gorgeous, right? He doesn't slack off for The New World either. I loved his work in this movie because in no way did his music distract us from the story. It flowed with it, and added such feeling to some of these scenes we were shown. Where there was love, he gave us the the true and delicate sounds of the piano. Where there was sadness he tortured our emotions using the sounds of the strings. Battle? No problem. I could feel my heart beat with every pound of a drum. Horner's music takes your mind INTO the movie. You don't just watch it, you feel it.
Art direction. My, my, my if this film were ever to be described into one word, it's artistic. America is a beautiful country, isn't it? I mean, tall green trees, long soft grass, oh and such beautiful waters run through the creeks and rivers... I realize nowadays it's not too often we get to see such scenery, but that's why we have David Crank! Oh my gosh I got such... peace, looking at some of his 1600's versions of America. The ocean and it's colorful forests along with all it's sounds... Then we're taken to 17th Century England, TOTALLY felt like we were there. On the streets it was dirty and gray, but when we're lead to a castle's garden, Crank does well to include it's elegance. The art direction was genious, because it was as if we were there, in the 17th Century, people! I could FEEL the atmosphere. Very, very nice. Quite beautiful.
Directing, editing, camera angles... all of that stuff, fit just right. No "where are we?" or "whose arm is that?" thoughts. I knew exactly what was happening, and who we were following in the story. There were some creative shots done, where at times the film would show a scene from the past, or we'd watch a scene of a character's thoughts, and that can be difficult to get away with, don't you think? The last thing a director wants to do in an adventure, drama film is confuse people, right? Malick and his team really pulled it off! Not once was I lost, and they added such creativity and somewhat fantasy to a story so many of us already know about. Also, way to go Malick for sticking to history as much as you could. It gets a little annoying when you watch a historical film and the director tries to put his own interpretations into it. Sometimes it's nice to just... get the real thing. I remember being so disappointed when I watched the movieTroy after I read the book. (Not the Illiad, but the actual book called, Troy.) It was totally different!? Achilles was never on the Trojan Horse, was he? Oh, and Starship Troopers. Dizzy was a GUY in the book!? Come on now, don't LIE to us! hah just kidding here. But yea serisously, seemed like they really stuck to the books with this film. Isn't is amazing how one Indian girl contributed SO much to the making of this country? You'll find some really intriguing facts here in this movie.
Actors! Characters! My favorite topic... I'll start with Miss Q'Orianka Kilcher, aka Pocahontas. She was so sweet you guys. I was immediately drawn to her. Calm, very spirited. Unusually, this film actually didn't have all that much dialogue. This must have been a difficult task for the actors, because they needed to rely on their facial expressions and body movement to get their thoughts apparent. Another reason why this movie was so well done. I was serisouly convinced that these people WERE their characters... kinda scary.
Ok, every negative thought or impression you got from Colin Farrell, put it aside. Just put it ASIDE because you don't want this film to be ruined for you just because of THAT! So what... he's got a Irish potbelly, dated Britney Spears, sticks out his tongue in his photos actually thinking it's cool and has all that icky gross hair on his face. Looks like you're just gonna have to let it go because he is John freaking Smith and nothing else when you watch this movie. Alright. Now that you've got that mindset, I think you'll be ok to hear that he did quite well. Not Oscar nomination well, but decent enough to pull off his character. It may have helped that there wasn't a whole lot of talking going on. Hah, oh that's nice, to be a good actor only when you don't talk... but still, he didn't bother me one tiny bit (thank goodness).
Christopher Plummer, one of those guys you see in every movie and always does a swell job. This might sound horrible, but for some reason I always seem to find actors from Dances With Wolves whenever there's some kind of Native American movie, so I kept an eye out, just to see you know? And there was! Wind In His Hair! Cool, huh? yea... Oh!!!! HELLO!!! I had NO idea that Mr. lovely Christian Bale was starring in this movie so that was a sa-weet surprise. (I think I had stopped breathing when he did his entrance...) It's also a nice treat to see him play none other than the guy who history tells us actually ends up with Poca, John Rolfe. Ladies... get ready. If you thought Equilibrium was steamy... picture our guy with longer hair and a little dirt on his face, and he falls in love. (Nothing cuter on a guy in my opinion, sigh.) Oh oh, and yea swell acting of course. Forgot to mention that, too busy dreaming...
Alright, believe it or not I've got a couple critiques. First of all, and I really don't want to sound like a continuous whiner with this one but what is the reason for such lengthy films these days? I guess it's really not a problem, because it's good that they included as much as they could. But can we get a warning or something? "The New World: bring a butt pad." or how about "A superb movie! Pretty freaking long though..." That way I'm not sorta hoping for the end to come sooner just so I could get the blood pumping through my buns again. Second, and as much as I can be deaf sometimes, I don't think it was just me, but when there WAS dialogue, most of it was hardly comprehendable! I'd ask the person next to me, "Who is he trying to find?" or I'd just wait to see what happened, THEN guess what that person said. I wouldn't normally critique on this kind of thing, but it happened more than a few times, and unfortunately, took some of the cool movie experience away. :-(
SO, time to rate. My people, I loved it. LOVED this movie. The bum cramp, the misheard speech... didn't matter really. It was slower than most movies, but you've just got to get the right mindset. You don't listen to a piece from Mozart when you're in the mood for AC/DC, you know? It's a film with a very sweet, yet resentful, yet honorable story, and I got lost in it's journey. Watch this movie, and just soak in it.




Rating: 5/5






p.s. Mom, I'm taking you to see this one, but don't worry we're gonna bring some padding!