The scenery and photography in CANOPY is breathtakingly gorgeous. I especially liked allowing the cameras to dwell on shots of; e.g., muddy streams, for thirty seconds or more. Such may not be for everyone but for me it created the intensity of our protagonist's fear, as he dwells on the the dangers before him, pausing to see if anything moves. Also done to excellent effect are the shots of the actors taken from great distances. These have the effect of showing how the teeming jungle plays with perspective as its impossible to guess whether you are looking from 50 feet away or 500 feet away until you see the actors themselves. Alas, more and/or better drama could have been achieved plot-wise while still avoiding Hollywood cliché. But CANOPY is indeed a treat for the eyes and I recommend a watch.

When I read about CANOPY I thought it sounded decent: Australian pilot, shot down in the fetid jungles of Singapore and trying to avoid Japanese squads on the hunt for prey. The sweaty, claustrophobic confines of the jungle sounded very AGUIRRE-esque to me and if the film was slow, then so what? Herzog's films are slow and yet they're also exceptionally crafted and beautiful to boot which is why they're my favourites.

Sadly, CANOPY turns out to be an absolutely awful picture and one of the most boring films I've ever seen. I can forgive films for being cheesy or silly but to be dull is the cardinal sin I can't ignore. NOTHING happens in this film from beginning to end: there's no dialogue, no incident, no drama, nothing. Just characters wandering around or sitting looking at trees.

Now, the film could still have been saved had it had exceptional cinematography to bring the life the sights and sounds of the jungle. It doesn't. It looks like this was made by amateurs, shooting in a single location and pointing the camera in different directions each time in order to get a sense of the jungle expanse. What we get is a film which relies on a sound effects team to insert noises of planes, bombing, and fighting without ever showing anything. It's so cheap it's a joke.

Singapore, February 1942. An Australian fighter pilot is shot down over the jungle and must find his way back to Allied lines, through Japanese-held territory.

The basic plot is what made me watch this: the survival theme set in war time is intriguing. Initial set up is good too.

Moreover, from the beginning the striking feature of the movie is the scenery and cinematography. Is very well done, with lush junglescapes and the stillness and peacefulness of nature contrasting with the violent war and life-or-death struggle the airman is engaged in. It reminded me a lot of the cinematography in Terrence Malick's 'The Thin Red Line'.

However, after the intriguing set up there is really very little in the way of plot development or substance. A human/relationship drama is introduced but it is not developed to much of an extent. The middle 60% or so of the movie involves far more style than substance, with the scenery largely replacing plot development.

Conclusion is fairly good and has an emotional element, but even that is underplayed.

Ultimately, okay, but could have been much better. Fairly disappointing.