Review of The New World (2005) by Adam W — 09 Apr 2012

Having now seen the "Extended Cut" I'm still not sure if this the original version Malick intended to realease as that was rumored to be over 4hrs in length.

This new version comes in at just under 3 hours, adding nearly 40 mins of footage.

Unlike, say "The Kingdom of Heaven" extended version that dramatically reshaped the experience by adding a complete story line dropped from the theatrical cut, here we basically get more of the same. Which is fine by me.

Technically the audio has been reworked with the narration boosted in the mix, at times intercut with the natural dialogue, and new score cues.

Additional footage is primeraly extensions of the existing scenes (perhaps why its called an "extended cut" rather than a "directors cut") that at times are hard to pinpoint but at other times standout.

Smith's journey to the tribe gets a significant boost in running time with some typically gorgeous photography and some lovely v/o prose. Once there we also get to spend more time with Smith bonding with the tribe in some naturally convincing scenes.

Pocahontas also gets some benificial additions, rounding out her character making this version as much about her as John Smith this time round.

The most noticable change is the introduction of title cards, breaking the film into chapters that, simple as it is, serves to make this version seem pacier in its longer form.

Whether you like this or not depends on how you took "The Thin Red Line". If you thought that was over-long, too full of cut aways to nature and don't like voiceover taking place of dialogue for the majority of the running time then this is not for you.