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I have had this film in my possession for almost 2 years and I haven't really been bothered to watch it for that long but I randomly decided to check it out with rather high expectations seeing as the posters and the still pictures make the film look rather epic despite its mixed critical response. Although, there were some good points in The New World, there is no denying the fact that I found it quite a disappointment. What this film lacked the most was the feeling of emotion and the fact it didn't feel epic at all and just felt rather flat and the conclusion felt rather empty and plain for me. I didn't really like the fact that it is about the Jamestown, Virginia settlement where they add historic legends Captain John Smith and Pocahontas so that made it become a bit of a fail.
Now on to the good points of the film was that the filming of it was really good! The backgrounds were just beautiful and the cinematography was fantastic and yes, it did deserve the Best Cinematography Academy Award nomination. The costumes were brilliant aswell for a film set in the 1600s. I have to say that I think only the backgrounds and the directing was brilliant, nothing else. It perhaps is a film that people would love for the romance between Smith and Pocahontas but I think the fact that they and the inspiring story on the discovery of the island perhaps ruined it for me.
In the beginning of the Seventeenth Century, along the English colonization of North America, Captain John Smith (Farrell) leaves the Jamestown fort to explore another area and trade with the Indians, but he is captured. The princess Pocahontas (Kilcher) asks her father to spare Captain Smith's life and they fall in love for each other. When he returns to the colony, he becomes the president of Jamestown and finds people starving, but Pocahontas brings supplies, saves them and falls in disgrace with her people. When the Indians realize that the English will not leave their country, they attack and after a bloody battle, the English trade Pocahontas and lodge her in the fort to protect their families, and Captain Smith loses his position because he does not agree with the arrangement. With the return of Captain Newport (Plummer), Captain Smith is promoted and sent back to England, and he asks a friend to tell Pocahontas that he drowned along the trip. Pocahontas is civilized and baptized by the English and John Rolfe (Bale) proposes and marries her. Many years later, she hears that Captain Smith is alive, and she has to decide if she keeps her marriage or follows her heart.
The cast was probably the main reason that The New World caught my attention. Colin Farrell was at the stage of his career where he was receiving a lot of major criticism after his supposed awful Razzie nominated performance in Oliver Stone's Alexander and in The New World, he plays a similar character but he did have the looks for Captain Smith but the acting wasn't that good and didn't make him seem like a hero or a charming man like even the Disney animated version voiced by Mel Gibson did. Not only did Q'orianka Kilcher make a good Pocahontas with her acting but she also made her a very attractive Pocahontas aswell! What I love about the Pocahontas character in general is that she is appeared to be a character of great beauty and also a heroine with a big heart and that is what I think Q'orianka Kilcher did really well at. After his performance as Bruce Wayne/Batman in Batman Begins, Christian Bale was perhaps in Hollywood's as well as the public's good books and I thought he was about average in The New World but unfortunately we didn't see very much of him in this one. Christopher Plummer was pretty good as well despite his appearance in the film wasn't very much.
Terrence Malick, a director who has hardly directed any films throughout his 40+ career and The New World was his first film in seven years (perhaps did as many films as often as the late and great Stanley Kubrick) and he did do a great job with handling the direction of the characters and backgrounds within but he just lacked to make the film feel epic or even emotional and that is what I am slightly worried about with The Tree Of Life coming up soon. He does have a lot with Stanley Kubrick seeing as Malick also writes his own screenplays for every single film that he has directed but I thought he did a fairly decent job with the script in The New World.
Overall, The New World is a historical drama mixed with legendary characters that I found beautifully filmed and well written and on one occasion: well acted but didn't find very epic or emotional. It's not one of the worst films I have watched seeing as there are so many films that are a lot worse than this. It is quite a forgettable film, if I'm perfectly honest.
