‘Knight of Cups’ Review: Terrence Malick’s Hollywood Odyssey Is Rapture Lite

Flipping through a fashion catalog or a handsomely mounted design book has its diverting joys. But “Knight of Cups,” Terrence Malick‘s attempt to render a dapper, rudderless movie writer (Christian Bale) wandering an Antonioni-esque Los Angeles into something navel-gazingly cinematic, winds up as mainly an art browse, even with all its visual resplendence.
It’s the movie equivalent of a multi-course banquet of colorful foams: wisps of flavor emerge here and there, and admiration reigns, but in the end you’re unlikely to believe you’ve actually had a meal.