I really enjoyed this film and was glad to be able to see it on the big screen. I will need to revisit The Thin Red Line as it didn't strike me as much as this film did.
'm watching with the tosh hd dvd player. this looks beautiful upconverted. there were some iffy moments near the beginning concerning EE especially around the edges of the mast and sails of the ships as they arrive to shore.
as the movie goes i didnt notice the EE as much.
the sound is great. there is tons of sound effects from all around, birds, wind, rain, water.
i watched with the sound off for a few mnutes and i didnt feel as if i was losing anything as far as storytelling was concerned.
Hmm, do I smell double dip? I was hoping to buy this sight-unseen, but after reading this, I will probably hold out for the inevitable Extended Edition DVD that will come out in 3-6 months. And if I'm wrong and one doesn't come out, this one will be $15 or less by then
If there is a double dip, it's unlikely to contain the 150 minute cut, as that largely consisted mostly of extended nature shots (and perhaps a minute of extra dialogue in one or two spots). The studio didn't tell Malick to shorten it, he just refined the edit of the film he wanted to deliver to cinemas.
What we should look out for is a substantially reworked extended cut which will run at about 3 hours (producer Sarah Green said Malick was already working on it during the film's release). This should include, I suppose, expansions on material briefly covered in the film (like dialogue scenes in place of voice-over narration). Q'Orianka Kilcher said, in a Comingsoon.net interview, that there were many more dialogue scenes which are supposed to be in a dvd release.
I've always maintained that no matter how much I may prefer an extended/director's cut, I always like to own the film that I originally fell in love with (which is why, despite my love of the SW prequels and approval of the SEs, I'll still be buying the Unaltered Trilogy Set this September). Therefore, this is certainly a must-have.
Plus, low dvd sales would encourage New Line to back out of releasing the bigger edition - and, well, that simply will not do.
Well whether it's a 150 minute cut or the 3 hour cut you're alluding to, I can wait.
I agree completely. Of course, in my first post I said this would be a sight-unseen buy (blind buy) so I've never seen any cut of this film to fall in love with. As such, I can wait for either the 150/180 minute cut, or for this one to be in the $10 bin and I can't pass it up any longer.
The chances of an extended cut appearing seem to be at a stalemate at the moment. Sarah Green did indeed state that New Line had greenlit the release of a longer cut on dvd for autumn but as of last week New Line had "no plans" to release an extended edition. The New Line response comes from a poster on imdb who contacted the studio.
Quite frankly that sounds like something the studio would say just so that their first release sells good. It's Terrence Malick film - not exactly a household name. Not everyone's going to rush out and buy it.
I'm gladly buying this, and I would more than gladly shell out for a longer cut. But I really think this cut works, so give it a rental, Carlo. You might be waiting forever otherwise.
One of my favorite films of all time. Along with the Star Wars OOT and the extended Kingdom of Heaven, this is the release I am most anticipating this year.