Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Francene Odetta It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

alljesus88 Reading the reviews, I can tell this movie wasn't popular with the average movie-goer, and I can't really blame them or expect them to agree with me. So, maybe this is a very personal review, but I found this movie very pleasing to my taste. I enjoy movies that are soft and calm. It's very calming and stress-reducing. And I love the way it was edited to show her transition from innocent child-likeness to womanhood. I thought the editing was brilliant because it moved along at a slow but continual pace, like the river so often shown in the movie. But most of all, I loved the interaction between the actors, especially Q'Orianka. She's so hauntingly beautiful and mesmerizing. I wish this movie could have gotten more love because I feel so alone in my love for it. But for now, I'll continue to enjoy it on my own and treasure it as one of my favorites.

Leofwine_draca 2005's THE NEW WORLD – a retelling of the Pocahontas story – has all the trappings of a masterpiece, sharing the evocative score and magnificent camera-work of Terrence Malick's previous film, THE THIN RED LINE. Unfortunately it's a flawed masterpiece, one that suffers from the director's penchant for long scenes that verge on boredom, as characters wander in the forests and communicate without dialogue. An hour could have easily been cut from the beginning of this film to make it better paced but we're left with moments of emptiness that test the viewer's patience.The good news is that, once Colin Farrell is out of the way, the film picks up pace and gets on with telling the actual story. In this respect the last hour of the film is by far the best. And speaking of Farrell, it's fair to say that he's definitely the worst thing in the movie; his Irish accent recurs throughout the film despite his best efforts to disguise it, and he fails to invest his character with any kind of depth. Even worse, no effort is made to hide his tattoos, which the English didn't wear until the mid-18th century. Far better is Q'Orianka Kilcher as Pocahontas; she's lovely and her spirited character is a delight. There are many supporting actors who put in VERY good performances – particularly Christian Bale, as brilliant as ever, and a little-seen Christopher Plummer as the ship's captain.The film does well to put across a feeling of how life was for both the Native Americans and the settlers and the authenticity never comes into question. But action fans will be disappointed in the lack of battle – the one we do see is over and done with as quick as you like, and Malick is more interested in shooting the trees. Things end on a high with a particularly poignant and moving climax, and it's a shame the rest of the film never reaches this level. When Farrell's on screen, it's pretty dull; when he's off it, it's pretty decent.

Zettelhead This film started with some whispered voice-over, continued with mumbled voice-over and never stopped with mumbling and whispering... There where some beautiful shots of landscape. And for sure Q'orianka Kilcher is totally sweet, but all this is drowned in mumbling, whispering and waggonloads of chliché.You have to listen to sentences like "Who is she?" or "Who is he?" about 12.000 times because the actors are not speaking but continuously thinking trite bullshit.The native Americans are called (very p.c.!) naturals, not savages, like the first settlers probably would have done, and they are depicted as real childlike and naive "noble savages".Pocahontas is so deeply natural, constantly talking to her mother (nature!), so completely in balance with her environment that you get sick of it. And she is so holy and pure that she purifies the soul of every men falling in love with her.And civilization is completely evil and destructive. John Smith is turned into a martyr because he realizes that he is responsible for the corruption of the pure and innocent soul of America, instead of realizing that he just behaves like a stupid asshole. But the script turns his letting-her-down into a saving-her-from-evil. Yak! The music is terrible. It does not fit the time, the scenes or whatsoever.There are dozens of highly illogical scenes that just do break the continuity. Once Pocahontas is at the coast, than she is hundreds of miles upstream, in one scene the settlers and Indians are killing each other, in the next they are just staring at each other with no visible victims of the former battle, in one scene the Indians take Georgetown, burn it to the ground and kill the inhabitants, in den next the Indians are again outside the palisades, the people of Georgetown are still alive and are on the watch and so on...And when Smith finally returns to England and visits Pocahontas, now called Rebecca, he still is dressed like coming straight out of the wilderness with greasy, filthy hair and ragged leather clothe...Why 3 stars instead of 1? Just because of Q'orianka Kilcher and Christian Beale. And the fact that she finally turns down the really annoying Collin Farell who just looks like a beaten dog throughout more than 2 hours...

brchthethird For my second Terrence Malick film (and there aren't too many), I have chosen THE NEW WORLD. It's basically the story of Pocahontas, starting from the settlement of Jamestown when she met John Smith to her later life when she married John Rolfe and moved to England. Of course, being that this is Terrence Malick, the minutiae of historical details aren't really adhered to and the story is told in rather broad strokes, making sure to hit all of the important historical moments but generally being a slower and more contemplative meditation on the themes that its director is interested in. While I was perfectly fine with the abstract story in THE TREE OF LIFE, I felt that it didn't quite work as well here. Still, Malick has crafted a stunningly beautiful film that explores themes of discovery, conflict, the search for happiness, and making the most out of difficult situations. What I thought worked very well was a restrained use of voice-over that served as internal monologues. Absent a lot of dialogue, this provided an essential window into the various characters. I also loved the numerous shots of natural beauty which were expertly captured by Malick's frequent cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezski. As far as acting is concerned, everyone gave a really good performance, although the cast was subordinate to the imagery. The score was also excellent, and in particular I liked the simple piano theme that played when John Smith and Pocahontas were on screen together. However, despite all of this really positive stuff I do think that the film dragged a bit in places and I found my mind wandering somewhat. I suppose it would have helped if this wasn't a story based in historical fact. That way I wouldn't have had expectations about how it should have been presented. Honestly, I would have a preferred a more straightforward telling, but what I got wasn't bad by any stretch of the imagination. Overall, this is a technically superb film that has some interesting observations on life, but it did subvert my expectations a little bit.