At one point in Power And Terror, a stultifying new documentary about famed intellectual, linguist, and dissident Noam Chomsky, director John Junkerman scans the crowd looking for fist-pumping testimonials to Chomsky's oratory magic. "I think Chomsky is a very careful and thoughtful person," testifies one acolyte haltingly, and that meek, measured statement says a great deal about the strengths and weaknesses of one of America's most divisive public intellectuals. Throughout the speeches and conversations that comprise Power And Terror, Chomsky is plenty careful and thoughtful, which should never be confused with being charismatic or inspirational. He proselytizes to his followers, but it's hard to imagine anyone getting worked up about a rumpled fellow who drones on in the bored monotone of a tenured professor going through the motions. Chomsky has long been a staunch critic of U.S. foreign policy. Here, he once again paints a gloomy picture of the country as an imperialist terror that exploits and oppresses Third World nations and supports bloodthirsty terrorists and tyrants while serving its own political interests. A film-length dose of strong medicine from a doctor with a grim bedside manner, Power And Terror doesn't aspire to do much more than disseminate Chomsky's ideas. On that level, it's a success, but on every other level, it's downright snooze-inducing. Junkerman is a veteran documentarian, but it's hard to tell from Terror, which expresses its idea of style by alternating a static, harshly lit shot of Chomsky with a static, harshly lit shot of Chomsky from a slightly different angle. The filmmakers seem to have inherited the intellectual's emphasis on substance over style, but their subject delivers his views in such a colorless fashion that even people who agree with him are likely to be turned off. With dour killjoys like Ralph Nader and Noam Chomsky serving as the public faces of progressive politics, the Republicans can't help but come across as the fun-loving party of pony rides, keggers, and free lap-dances. Power And Terror is so dry that theaters showing it might as well pass around attendance sheets and assign homework.