Variety
The skies surrounding Jamestown in "The New World" are almost invariably flat and colorless, a condition that unfortunately also describes the storytelling and dramatis personae in Terrence Malick's new picture. While the tale of first contact between Englishmen and the "naturals," as the Brits felicitously refer to the Native Americans, might seem to play to the strengths of the meticulous and unhurried director, Malick's exalted visuals and isolated metaphysical epiphanies are ill-supported by a muddled, lurching narrative, resulting in a sprawling, unfocused account of an epochal historical moment. The support of Malick loyalists notwithstanding, New Line will have trouble generating more than a modest commercial response...
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