In Theaters

THE LEGEND OF BAGGER VANCE 127 minutes; PG-13; directed by Robert Redford; written by Jeremy Leven; based on the novel by Steven Pressfield.

In the opening moments of Robert Redford’s latest film, “The Legend of Bagger Vance,” audiences are treated to 10 minutes of rapid-fire character development, all of which are meant to shape the film’s main character, Rannulph Junuh (Matt Damon), and explain why he lost his golf swing.

As Jack Lemmon narrates, Redford unravels a tissue of softly lit images – athletic Junuh smiling as he wins golf championship after golf championship, handsome Junuh swooning as he falls in love with Adele Invergordon (Charlize Theron), boyish Junuh shaken to the core and ultimately ruined as the result of his enlistment in World War I.

On top of all this, we get women fainting along the glimmering waters of the Atlantic, men committing suicide in the warm light of a setting sun, mass deaths on the battlefield, and then, as the film’s opening moments come to an abrupt close, the cliche soup lines of the Depression.

That most of these images take place in Savannah, Ga. – a city known for the richness of its architecture and the sumptuous beauty of its landscape – punctuates the fact that Redford has moved even farther away from the realism of his best film, 1994’s “Quiz Show,” and pushed deeper into the dreamlike world of the hopeless romantic.

It is a shame, really, particularly since “Bagger Vance” is even more removed from reality than “A River Runs Through It” and “The Horse Whisperer,” two films that sent audiences straight into the fuzzy realm of allegory – and far and away from the “truths” Redford aspires to capture at every contrived turn.

In spite of its pretensions, “Bagger Vance” captures few truths as it is a drama for dummies. It exists for one reason – to capitalize on the current popularity of golf while also turning a crowd-pleasing metaphor on life. Indeed, just as surely as Junah has lost his golf swing, he’s also lost his way in life.

If this sounds familiar, it might be because Redford, in 1984, starred in Barry Levinson’s “The Natural,” which was about a baseball star who lost his swing and – guess what, folks? – his way in life.

Isn’t it fun how Hollywood repackages movies?

What isn’t so fun is how badly those movies can be realized. Shooting his film almost entirely through cheesecloth, Redford hauls in Will Smith as Bagger Vance, a black caddy – not to mention a racial stereotype – who helps Junuh get back into life by recapturing his “authentic swing.” As Bagger sees it, “Inside each and every one of us is our one true, authentic swing. Something we was born with, something that can’t be learned, something that’s got to be remembered.”

What ensues is predictable hokum, a film that ironically doesn’t have one authentic moment in it. Redford follows “The Green Mile” in that he uses a black man as a form of deity to bring its main character, a white man, to personal enlightenment. But unlike “The Green Mile,” he doesn’t go near the prejudices blacks endured during the time his film is set.

Instead, Redford, who must have learned lighting from Barbra Streisand, paints his film in the rosy colors of denial, which robs his film of any depth. Worse, his film has no surprises, no soul, no performance to pluck it out of the tedium. Theron looks the part, but she still can’t act, and her southern accent is the pits; Damon is all teeth, but he has no bite; and Smith, who should be embarrassed for agreeing to grin his way through this bucket of humiliation, offers little more than complacency and a few moments of stilted wisdom.

These missteps are hardly the things of legend, but they do work wonders in helping to bag “Bagger Vance.”

Grade: D

On Video

THE PERFECT STORM 129 minutes. PG-13; directed by Wolfgang Peterson; written by Bill Wittliff, based on the book by Sebastian Junger..

Wolfgang Peterson’s excellent film, “The Perfect Storm,” is a fantastic example of how special effects, when backed by a strong script and an even stronger cast, can create terrific, rousing entertainment – the sort that creates a sustained, meteoric high even in the face of the low pressure it depicts.

The storm in question is indeed perfect, a Category 5 hurricane that makes the Ice Storm of ’98 look like a passing flurry. With the special effects team of Industrial Light & Magic at the helm, “The Perfect Storm” lets loose one hell of a realistic gale, a nightmare of high winds and towering waves that sweeps the audience to the edge of their seats, while nevertheless creating an intimacy that’s rare in a blockbuster film: When this storm hits, we’re all in it together.

Based on Sebastian Junger’s true account of events that occurred off Gloucester, Mass., in the fall of 1991, the film stars George Clooney as Billy Tyne, a sea-weary captain of the Andrea Gail who’s under pressure from his employer to catch more swordfish.

Proud to a fault, Billy uses the financial desperation of his crew (Mark Wahlberg, John C. Reilly, Allen Payne and William Fichtner in strong supporting roles) to leave behind their families and go back to sea for a fishing trip Billy promises will be their greatest, most profitable to date.

But with three storms brewing in the Atlantic and threatening to collide into a super storm precisely where the men will be fishing, the film mirrors others such as “Armageddon,” “Mission to Mars” and “The Right Stuff” – and books such as Conrad’s “The Heart of Darkness” and Melville’s “Moby Dick” – in that it sends these men into the dangers of the unknown.

What’s so great about “The Perfect Storm” isn’t just its storm, which is marvelous to behold, but its finely drawn characters. This is a film about working-class people, how they live and interact, and the sacrifices they make every day just to put food on the table. We’re so used to seeing bland, cliched characters thrown up on the screen, the small-town specifics of “Storm” come as a refreshing change.

Big and powerful, Peterson’s film recalls his best, “Das Boot,” in that it gets the small details right – the cramped living quarters aboard the Andrea Gail, the bad food, the stink of dead fish, the longing for love and family, the weight of what it means to be one of these men.

In the end, everything comes down to timing and luck; nothing can be lost to chance. “The Perfect Storm” knows this and respects it. It’s a terrific film that shouldn’t be missed.

Grade: A

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays in Style and Thursdays in the scene.

The Video Corner

Renting a video? NEWS film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases in video stores.

Mission: Impossible 2 B+

Titan A.E. B-

Frequency B

Return to Me B+

Center Stage D+

The Patriot B+

Toy Story 2 A

Keeping the Faith B+

Rules of Engagement C-

Shanghai Noon C

Pitch Black B+

East-West A-

The Skulls D-

Snow Day F

U-571 C-

Black and White B-

Final Destination D-

A Map of the World A-

High Fidelity A-

Ready to Rumble D

28 Days C-

East is East A

Mission to Mars D-

American Psycho B+

Any Given Sunday C+

I Dreamed of Africa B

The Next Best Thing D

The Tigger Movie B-

Supernova D-

Erin Brockovich B+

The Cider House Rules A-

Here on Earth D+

Reindeer Games C+

Princess Mononoke A

Romeo Must Die C-

Whatever It Takes B