One of the most disappointing films I have ever seen

Rating: 1/10 (8 October 1999)

I had high expectations of this film - having been told that it was a cinematic masterpiece, etc.
Several hours later, I feel cheated - I feel I have wasted part of my life - time that could have been more productively spent sleeping, for example.
This film has some of the worst acting ever to appear on screen, and is so slow moving as to be coma inducing. I fail to see how anyone can be impressed with this - by leaving out any semblance of plot or progress, Kubrick has left the way open for a whole bunch of people to insert their own interpretations...I presume these are the same sort of people who can stare at a blank canvas and gush effusively about how it symbolizes the bleak emptiness of existence in the 20th century and other pretentious claptrap. Personally, I expect a bit more effort on the part of the person making the film. If I want to reflect on deep philosophical questions, I don't need a lumbering dinosaur of a film to act as a catalyst.
I give it a 1, and recommend giving it a wide berth. Maybe it's possible to get an abridged version which would condense it down to include only the significant elements - that would be a tolerable 5 minutes or so, but in it's long form, forget it.