For whatever reason, it seems to have slipped film lovers' collective minds that Terry Malick, director of Badlands, Days of Heaven, The Thin Red Line and Tree of Life, recently made a film that is probably best described as the Rite of Spring sequence from Fantasia filmed as a feature length live action movie shot and edited in the style of Koyaanisqatsi with elements of 2001: A Space Odyssey. This movie IS Malick's 2001:ASO - the complete version of the ambitious, long-gestating passion project that we caught a small glimpse of in The Tree of Life.
Why should you care? Well, in my case, I'm not the biggest fan of Malick and I think most of his films are new agey and esoteric to the point of being uninteresting and the lack of humor makes them tough to get through sometimes. Loved Badlands though, and I appreciated the beauty of TOL, but he's just a really weird, eccentric dude who's like an alien visiting our planet to show us reflections of ourselves that we're too used to being normal humans to fully understand.
And it is EXACTLY this perspective that makes Voyage of Time so good. We're shown the birth of the cosmos and our galaxy. The formation of our planet. The genesis of life on earth. The oceans, as they appeared millions if not billions of years ago. The oldest organisms designed by nature that existed during that time. A shot of an amphibian crawling out of the sea precedes a scene showing gorgonopsids - large, intimidating terrestrial beasts that were the evolutionary precursor to both mammals and dinosaurs - wandering about a Triassic desert.
Following that is a sequence showing a mother dinosaur and her offspring inhabiting a Jurassic forest and beach, which is kicked off by an amazing first person POV shot of a baby dinosaur hatching from the inside of its egg to glimpse a prehistoric sky and the pteranodons flying across it for the first time. This sequence is capped off with a spectacular interpretation of what it might have looked like to witness the dinosaur-killer meteorite strike that's probably the only reason we are here today.
Following this are more ocean scenes that show us much of our current marine life that happened to also be around 40 million years ago. Gorgeous imagery of cuttlefish displaying brilliant flashes of color via their pigmentation, whale sharks, blue whales feeding on plankton, and other scenes that are straight out of Blue Planet 2.
Then we jump to around 100,000 BC to witness some slice of life footage of early humans hunting, gathering and caring for one another. Finally, the film jump cuts to the here and now, reaching a climax via a stunning ariel view of Dubai that puts into perspective how far we have come and the marvels we as a species are capable of.
The film bookends with a scene of the earth billions of years from now - a desolate ruin of its former self that is inevitably devoured by the red giant version of our sun, which then leads to a mind-bending visualization of supernovas and black holes. The final moments consist of candid footage of humans from around the world celebrating, struggling, living, as if to say we should never waste a minute appreciating how privileged we are to exist on this small, pale blue dot with each other.
Now, as amazing as this movie is, there are some low points. In addition to the images and music you'll get some classic Terrence Malick prose narration. It's used sparsely though, and at times arguably might highlight the wonderment of what you're seeing. But it's not for everyone. Also, the CG of the prehistoric animals is...not the greatest. The animation is a bit too emphasized and makes some of the dinosaurs move almost like they would in Disney's Dinosaur. It's a bit distracting, but you can't complain too much because dinosaurs are pretty rad. Finally, there are a few interludes breaking up the cosmos and nature stuff that consist of footage of present day earth from all corners of the globe shot on cell phones that sober you up a bit. A neat juxtaposition and I'm glad it's in the movie, but wish the cameras used were HD.
But overall, the movie is pretty consistent in wowing you. The thing you can appreciate most about Voyage of time, in addition to the gorgeous cinematography, is how definitive it is as both spiritual art and scientific documentation of our planet and its biology. It's crafted by a poet/philosopher visionary director known for having an eye for seeing the wonder and splendor in everything, and there is rigorous scientific accuracy that you rarely get to see in movies. The filmmakers were very deliberate in what they show, choosing to portray images of prehistoric life and the cosmos that we have enough scientific evidence to visualize accurately. The film is timeless. It's almost like the main reason it was made is to serve the purpose of being the ONE movie you'd want to store in a capsule for one day showing an intelligent alien visitor the cliffnotes history of our world.
Unfortunately, for some unbelievably weird reason, VOT had a limited release in select Imax theaters for a week. Two years later, there isn't even a bluray or DVD available in the states or most countries. The only way you will get to see this film is by ordering a bluray from Japan or France. But if you're fascinated by natural history and the cosmos, the import prices are worth it IMHO.
Pics:
Why should you care? Well, in my case, I'm not the biggest fan of Malick and I think most of his films are new agey and esoteric to the point of being uninteresting and the lack of humor makes them tough to get through sometimes. Loved Badlands though, and I appreciated the beauty of TOL, but he's just a really weird, eccentric dude who's like an alien visiting our planet to show us reflections of ourselves that we're too used to being normal humans to fully understand.
And it is EXACTLY this perspective that makes Voyage of Time so good. We're shown the birth of the cosmos and our galaxy. The formation of our planet. The genesis of life on earth. The oceans, as they appeared millions if not billions of years ago. The oldest organisms designed by nature that existed during that time. A shot of an amphibian crawling out of the sea precedes a scene showing gorgonopsids - large, intimidating terrestrial beasts that were the evolutionary precursor to both mammals and dinosaurs - wandering about a Triassic desert.
Following that is a sequence showing a mother dinosaur and her offspring inhabiting a Jurassic forest and beach, which is kicked off by an amazing first person POV shot of a baby dinosaur hatching from the inside of its egg to glimpse a prehistoric sky and the pteranodons flying across it for the first time. This sequence is capped off with a spectacular interpretation of what it might have looked like to witness the dinosaur-killer meteorite strike that's probably the only reason we are here today.
Following this are more ocean scenes that show us much of our current marine life that happened to also be around 40 million years ago. Gorgeous imagery of cuttlefish displaying brilliant flashes of color via their pigmentation, whale sharks, blue whales feeding on plankton, and other scenes that are straight out of Blue Planet 2.
Then we jump to around 100,000 BC to witness some slice of life footage of early humans hunting, gathering and caring for one another. Finally, the film jump cuts to the here and now, reaching a climax via a stunning ariel view of Dubai that puts into perspective how far we have come and the marvels we as a species are capable of.
The film bookends with a scene of the earth billions of years from now - a desolate ruin of its former self that is inevitably devoured by the red giant version of our sun, which then leads to a mind-bending visualization of supernovas and black holes. The final moments consist of candid footage of humans from around the world celebrating, struggling, living, as if to say we should never waste a minute appreciating how privileged we are to exist on this small, pale blue dot with each other.
Now, as amazing as this movie is, there are some low points. In addition to the images and music you'll get some classic Terrence Malick prose narration. It's used sparsely though, and at times arguably might highlight the wonderment of what you're seeing. But it's not for everyone. Also, the CG of the prehistoric animals is...not the greatest. The animation is a bit too emphasized and makes some of the dinosaurs move almost like they would in Disney's Dinosaur. It's a bit distracting, but you can't complain too much because dinosaurs are pretty rad. Finally, there are a few interludes breaking up the cosmos and nature stuff that consist of footage of present day earth from all corners of the globe shot on cell phones that sober you up a bit. A neat juxtaposition and I'm glad it's in the movie, but wish the cameras used were HD.
But overall, the movie is pretty consistent in wowing you. The thing you can appreciate most about Voyage of time, in addition to the gorgeous cinematography, is how definitive it is as both spiritual art and scientific documentation of our planet and its biology. It's crafted by a poet/philosopher visionary director known for having an eye for seeing the wonder and splendor in everything, and there is rigorous scientific accuracy that you rarely get to see in movies. The filmmakers were very deliberate in what they show, choosing to portray images of prehistoric life and the cosmos that we have enough scientific evidence to visualize accurately. The film is timeless. It's almost like the main reason it was made is to serve the purpose of being the ONE movie you'd want to store in a capsule for one day showing an intelligent alien visitor the cliffnotes history of our world.
Unfortunately, for some unbelievably weird reason, VOT had a limited release in select Imax theaters for a week. Two years later, there isn't even a bluray or DVD available in the states or most countries. The only way you will get to see this film is by ordering a bluray from Japan or France. But if you're fascinated by natural history and the cosmos, the import prices are worth it IMHO.
Pics:
Last edited:
