DVD Review: The New World - Extended Cut - Page 2

The audio left much to be desired, though. The score and the voiceovers seemed to jostle for position, usually with the overblown music winning. Numerous times I found myself wondering, what was it that he just said? It’s hard to understand what’s going on when there’s an epic score building to crescendo, a character talking softly, and a voiceover talking even softer.

Most of the new 20 minutes of footage is just the lengthening of certain scenes like Smith’s first rowboat scene, Smith playing with the men of the tribe, and when the tribe walks up to the fort to present the people with food and gifts. There are also numerous new nature shots that, while pretty, don’t need to be in the movie. They become predictable and frustrating when all you want the movie to do is move along with the story. Example:

• Shot of John Smith
• Shot of trees
• Shot of sky
• Shot of water
• Shot of Indian
• Shot of trees
• Shot of sky
• Shot of water

While the extra 20 minutes do not change the movie or its flow, it doesn’t add any material of true interest to it.

The Special Features

Here’s where fans of this film are going to be hurt. Sure, you got an extra 20 minutes of footage, but you didn’t get one single special feature. That’s right, none! You didn’t even get the special features from the last DVD release. This seems almost like an insult. What DVDs, especially epic movies like this, don’t have any special features on their discs? It’s hard to fathom. There’s not so much as a trailer or a gallery of still photos on this disc.

Of course you do get a code to get a digital copy of the film, but that doesn’t make up for the fact that you aren’t getting anything extra with this purchase. It’s hard to believe that you aren’t even getting the old special features.

Ending Thoughts

While some people, and a lot of critics, enjoyed this movie, I did not. I thought it was overdone, overwrought, and underwhelming. The 172 minutes seem like exactly that. It’s hard to lose yourself in the movie like you do when watching the extended versions of Lord of the Rings, and unlike the Rings extended versions, this extended version doesn't actually add any extra scenes worth being in the movie.

That, and the fact that there are no special features included in this set make it definitely not worth buying. It seems like when this DVD was being put together they though so much about adding in the extra 20 minutes that they ended up leaving all the other interesting stuff out.

Article Author: Aaron Peck

All of Aaron's reviews first appear in print for The Herald Journal Cache Magazine. He's also running the fledgling film site The Reel Place.com.

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