"The New World"

Terrence Malick's 4th movie in a career that goes all the way back to the great "Badlands" in 1973 is another snooze in the tradition of his "Thin Red Line." The good news is that the version that's rolling out nationally is 15 minutes shorter than the 150 minute ordeal I sat most of the way through a couple of weeks ago, but cutting 45 minutes of shots of wind blowing through grass and birds flying would have been even better.

"The New World" stars Colin Farrell as Captain John Smith of Jamestown fame with 14-year-old Q'Orianka Kilcher as Pocahontas wearing a trim little outfit perhaps inspired by Betty Rubble. She's cute, although only quasi- American Indian-looking -- her mother's cousin is blonde singer Jewel.

Smith was an interesting guy, but you wouldn't know it from this movie. All Farrell is allowed to do is moon solemnly over the Princess, who in real life was pre-pubescent. And if they had a romance, nobody bothered to mention it until 19th Century Romantics took up the story.

In the third act, Pocahontas marries John Rolfe (played by Christian "Batman" Bale) and moves to England, but I skipped out and snuck into "Casanova," which is even more ahistorical, but at least makes an effort to entertain you.

My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer