Terrence Malicks ' "The New World" Directors Cut

I just finished the 135 minute version, which strangely seems more coherent than the 150 minute version I seem to recall in the theater. But that was 10 years ago so my memory is less than perfect. In any event, it 's a much stronger movie than I originally thought. IMO Malick's ambitions are better served when driven by some narrative pulse, even if convoluted and digressive. Otherwise they become endless sequences of people walking in circles at dusk, signifying nothing but pretentiousness.

But "The New World", being all about discovery, is a story well suited to Malick's m.o. Anyone watch the 172 minute version and is it worth the investment of time and intellect? Anyone know about a purported even longer ( five hour?) version?

 

Here's the open thread on the movie with some discussion of the cuts. There are several prior locked threads too.

The New World (Malick, 2005)

 

Thanks, helpful