I turned this off the first time I watched it cuz I found it so unbearable. It was either this or Song to Song, another Malick flick filmed at about the same time but released two years later.
Then I got high one night and watched a few shots from Song to Song and I had some sort of experience and teared up.
I've told two or more people to watch this bad boy with the caveat that they will hate it but hopefully they will watch it years later and love it. There was a period of a couple months where Knight of Cups and Song to Song just scratched the back of my brain. I had to keep rewatching. I hope that this movie bothers you in the some way.
What's difficult to watch about this film is that it's not really like anything you've seen. But funnily enough that is exactly its greatest strength. Like, yeah you can take hot showers every morning if you want but you can also jump into the freezing lake on New Years day morning with four of your naked best friends. Ok, ok. I wouldn't actually liken the vibe of this flick to an ice bath but let me use my metaphors.
Bale plays a screenwriter spending time in Las Vegas and Los Angeles with different women. He is making good money but it's not all there for him. There are these delightful scenes at this sprawling L.A. mansion with Antonio Banderas playing the wealthy host. He dances, he riles, he opines about women, he jumps into the pool. He is just magnetic in these scenes and we know that he could occupy easily 30 minutes of this film instead of the 2-3 that he does, but it is good that he doesn't because it is right the way that it is.
I'm not well versed in biblical story so I can't analyze it from that point of view. But I think I've read that Malick is religious or Christian, maybe very much so. There is a whisper light plot that references the hymn of the pearl and is a sort of a heroes journey, similar to Song to Song but without so overt of a Mephistopheles character. In Song to Song, BV is tempted more literally, and we see him 'fight with the Devil.' But here, we get the sense that Rick has already been tempted and illusion and he's not so much fighting with the Devil as he is himself.
I tell you, go read the one star reviews of this and Song to Song. It's just such a fuckin gas. I'm actually going to post some here because they're too fuckin funny. [From both Knight of Cups and Song to Song]
"Haven't seen it (I wanted to check out reviews before I watch it on Prime) but I must say that some reviewers are so darned condescending, stating you must be this or that (in much more frou frou language) to appreciate the movie. Gimme a break! And if it's anything like Tree of Life, which I hated, I think I'll skip it." [KOC]
"If you like rolling around in a fragrance commercial, and the fragrance is made of feces? This is the movie for you." [KOC]
"Breathtaking visuals but it just felt like an extended Calvin Klein fragrance commercial from the Eighties with Christian Bale taking over the Kate moss role" [KOC]
"NOPE. Did the editor drop the film down the steps, drop it in a vat of jello, then cut it up and tried to put it back together all while he was tripping on acid? I WAS looking for music, or some kind of entertainment, this movie is neither. Couldn't get past 20 minutes." [STS]
"This was like a 2 hr. long whiney cologne commercial with annoying, breathy commentary constantly spliced over top. How so many big name actors agreed to be involved in it is beyond me 🤦♀️" [STS]
"What in the ever-loving hell?? It's weird, confusing, disturbing and the opposite of entertainment. This movie was a colossal waste of time and money." [STS]
So. I guess. To wrap it up. It's not an action packed thriller. There's some cool themes in there and if you can settle down for two hours and engage some semblance of an attention span you may have a cool experience. He coulda cut 20 mins from it.