There’s no doubt that filmmakerTerrence Malickhas evolved his style significantly over the past few years.The Tree of Lifefeels like it may be the last narrative-driven feature film Malick will ever make, as the writer/director has since been altering the artform, approaching film more as a tone poem than traditional cinema. That’s not necessarily a bad thing—To the Wondertells a compelling story with evocative imagery and voiceover. But when it comes to Malick’s long-in-the-works documentaryVoyage of Time: Life’s Journey, it results in a hugely disappointing swing and a miss.
WithVoyage of Time, Malick aims to chronicle the entire history of the Earth and its inhabitants, from the formation of our galaxy to the eventual death of the sun, which in turn will wipe out all life on Earth. It’s a cyclical process, you see, andVoyage of Timedrives this theme home over and over and over again, never really rising above “The circle of life is cruel and awe-inspiring, isn’t it?”
The Creation sequence from Malick’s masterworkTree of Lifewas but a mere prelude toVoyage of Time, as this documentary essentially expands that section to feature length. This subsequently moves to the formation of rocks, the oceans, the first organic life, dinosaurs, early humans, and cities over the course of the film’s 90-minute runtime. This nature footage is interspersed with grainy camcorder segments that Malick seems to have accumulated throughout the 90s. They aim to capture life in motion—old, young, healthy, sick, religious, etc.—with everything from the slaughtering of bulls to a Jewish marriage ceremony.
Oh, andCate Blanchett’s here too. TheKnight of Cupsactress provides voiceover “narration”, if you can call it that. In reality, Blanchett sounds like she’s reciting a 90-minute-long poem directly addressing Mother Earth and/or our creator. Hushed sentences that begin with “Mother…” abound, most of which convey the same message. And that’s kind ofVoyage of Timein a nutshell—a lot of repetition that amounts to the thematic resonance of a fortune cookie.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s some absolutely stunning images in this thing. There are really cool fish in the sea! The universe is scary! But at 90 minutes in length and a whole lot of circling the wagons,Voyage of Timewill certainly test your patience. Indeed, there are two versions of the film being released—Life’s Journey, and a 45-minute IMAX cut simply calledVoyage of Time: The IMAX Experience, narrated byBrad Pitt. I do think the film could more than get its point across in half the time, so perhaps the IMAX version of this is superior.
Malick is fascinating. He’s made truly remarkable movies in his career, and when he’s on, he’s on; his ambition in attempting to push the limits of cinema is admirable. But gorgeous imagery pondering our existence can only sustain so much of a film’s runtime when the thematic undercurrent is this simple. Even the most devoted Malick fan may find himself or herself bored to tears byVoyage of Time: Life’s Journey.
Rating: C-
Voyage of Time: Life’s Journeydoes not currently have a release date.Voyage of Time: The IMAX Experienceopens in theaters on October 7th.
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