DVD mini Review - The New World

[Ayreonaut]

Let me preface this by saying that I have never taken illegal drugs. My experiences with head trips are only related to dreams and dream like states induced by falling asleep while listening to psychedelic music. What's that got to do with this DVD review?

Well in movies, when people have head trips you get a lot of disjointed editing, voices in the head, non-linear time and other surreal forms of storytelling. Like I said I don;t know if that's what drugs are really like or not. But imagine a drug trip film making technique used to relate a historical epic for 2 1/4 hours. Wouldn't that be great?

No. No, it would not. And The New World wasn't great.

Oh, its beautiful all right. Its like surreal poetry for 135 minutes. The ambient sounds of nature all around are mood-altering, and I really like mood-altering and melancholy movies. But there's no dialog. Most of the speaking is poetry recited over trippy montages. The accompanying classical score was terribly out of place juxtaposed against the native american culture. The loooong orchestral swells grew as tedious as the cinematic technique.

I wasn't really enjoying it that much when my wife turned to me and said "This movie is really wierd." My sentiments exactly. OK, maybe I just don't get it and you will. But I just wanted you to know that this movie is an art project more than a historical epic.

I'm interested in your impressions. But I don't recommend The New World.

[Sonnie]

What a bummer! This is one I have so totally been lookin' forward to. It's sittin' on my counter ready to be watched tonight. Now I'm all of the sudden not in so much of a big hurry to see it.

Gee the previews and trailers sure don't lead us in that direction... or they didn't me. Ah who knows... maybe it will hit me differently. I'm weird too so maybe the two will mix.

[Sonnie]

Daniel... you may have been a little too nice on this one. I can't add a lot to what you've said... I agree with you 100%. I almost fell asleep a couple of times. It took all I could do to finish it. I kept waiting for something to happen. How boring can a movie be? At absolute most... this movie should have only been 80 minutes long.

I really thought the music was going to drive me crazy. If there was a bright spot, it was the few clips of scenery, but definitely not worth watching the movie for. There was nothing special about the sound... dull for the most part.

Who is Terrence Malick anyway... remind me not to ever watch another one of his movies.


If you rent this movie and for some reason like it enough to buy it... see me first, I'll sell ya my copy, it's only been watched once and will sit on my shelf for life.