"The New World" review

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Eternally-delayed director Terrence Malick makes his first foray into 21st century filmmaking with The New World, telling the story of English settlers in 1607 and John Smith's (Colin Farrell) forbidden love with the native Pocahontas (newcomer Q'Orianka Kilcher). For those unfamiliar with the story outside of the 1995 Disney musical adaptation, Malick (who also wrote the film) gives an equal footing of empathy to both the Native Americans and the English in the storytelling points of view, which is refreshing. It starts with the English landing in Virginia, and then progresses over their mutually distrustful relationship with the native Powhatans, and the romances Pocahontas encounters with both Smith and John Rolfe (played by Christian Bale, who will be forever haunted by the smirk he perfected in American Psycho).
Malick's penchant for relying on dramatic images and orchestral swells in place of dialogue is in full effect here. In fact, much of the film is relatively dialogue-free, which gives the viewer a sensory feeling of thoughtfulness, but this technique starts to backfire later on as the two hour-plus story begins to grow tiresome. Thankfully, the film was cut down from a proposed two and a half hours.
If you found his 1998 film The Thin Red Line too pretentious and puffed up, steer clear of The New World. Or at least see it in a theatre, so that the beautiful cinematography can be truly appreciated (which helps to compensate for the flaws that plague the film).
Without a strong script to back him up, Farrell coasts on giving "deep" looks to the camera and once again, fails to live up to the intense promise he showed in 2000's Tigerland. Fifteen-year-old Kilcher fares better in her first major role; she has a beatific presence that is effortlessly winning, and though she has difficulty with some of the more emotionally complex scenes, she shows a high degree of potential for the future.
Unfortunately, Kilcher is left to carry the last third of the film, which is considerably weaker than the relatively promising first two. The secondary love story that develops with Rolfe isn't as engaging, possibly because we already saw Pocahontas fall in love roughly an hour earlier. With the emphasis placed on emotional banality, one even starts longing for the action scenes reminiscent of The Last of the Mohicans from earlier in the film, complete with Mohicans actor Wes Studi in a supporting role.
Overall, The New World isn't nearly as bad as Farrell's other epic historical adventure, the abominable Alexander. However, Malick's prosaic storytelling style is what both elegantly distinguishes the film and makes it a bore by the end.