I really wanted to like this movie. It sounded like something I would like. But wow - it is just truly terrible. Apparently people like it because it is "visually pretty" or something like that. Really? I thought it was almost as visually boring as the story is boring. Almost.
I checked out the Criterion release from my library yesterday. I wanted to see Brooke Adams--I'm a fan of hers--but what a disappointment. Malick cannot be bothered to tell a story properly; whenever he sees a pretty sunset or colourful wildlife the story goes out the window. Why the subterfuge over Bill and Abby's relationship? It's never properly explained. If Bill wanted to flee Chicago after killing the factory foreman, there were plenty better places to run to than a farm on the Plains, where the work would be very hard and the attitudes unforgiving. I can't believe the farmer married her, with the evidence of her commitment to another man right before his eyes.
I gave it 5, and I was being generous. Days of Heaven is marginally better than Heaven's Gate.