Stanley Kubrick's satire on crime and justice is just shy of being a great movie. It's perverse and provoking, but there's also mad genius beneath its repulsive content

Rating: 7/10 (8 December 2009)

One thing was certain about Stanley Kubrick: once you gave him complete control over the story of his film, you were at the mercy of his malice and onslaught. Like his science-fiction classic "2001: A Space Odyssey", his 1971 film "A Clockwork Orange" was and still is a film of heavy controversy and debate. Some laud the movie for its satirical and dark humor when addressing crime and punishment. Others believe it's just too dark, too nihilistic, too right wing, and brutal to be taken for art or even a good movie.
What's my verdict? Well, somewhere in the middle. Overall, I enjoyed the movie, but to me, it's not a masterpiece. I really enjoyed the first half of the movie. I liked the middle section, but the third act just fell apart for me. Perhaps I wasn't quite ready just like I wasn't prepared for the Star Child scene in "2001" and wasn't sure how to take it. A second viewing might help. But one thing is for sure about "A Clockwork Orange." It is a brutal, disturbing, and even at times offensively off-putting madman story. But buried beneath all its exterior horrific content, there is also a sort of mad, maniacal genius that holds it together.
The film is set in futuristic Europe, during a time when all the people in world seem to have gone nihilistic and pornographic without a fear or care. A young rapist named Alex (Malcolm McDowell) is captured by the police after accidentally murdering his victim and becomes subject to a new sort of government test that should cure him of his evil waysbut things might go awry.
The first half of "A Clockwork Orange" really shocked and appalled me. There were times my stomach turned around inside of me because it was so disturbing. I actually felt uncomfortable and even a little unclean sitting there watching these scenes of explicit rape and nudity and almost dance-like violence. Kubrick clearly wasn't afraid to let his expressionism free on the screen. But oddly enough, although I felt really bad watching these scenes, I also felt kind of awed for I understood that Kubrick wasn't glorifying crime, he was kind of alerting us to how many people seem to glorify it. In a way, he's alerting us to our own perverse thoughts. This is also aided by the fact that our protagonist is one of the screen's most offensive villains.
The middle section of the film was not as good as the first part. When Kubrick started to satirize the justice system gone madI felt the movie became way too talky and verbose. Characters would say a whole lot of words but communicate very little point. And then the third act just became too slow for my liking and this is what ultimately cost the film a potential fourth star. Kubrick had a lot of say, but I don't think he said it with the right notes.
I say notes, because Kubrick is also making majestic uses of classical music during scenes of violence and madness. Ludwig van Beethoven's symphonies are used several times throughout the film in surprisingly appalling but ingenious ways. Edward Elgar's classic "Pomp and Circumstance" also makes a wonderful appearance in a wonderful sequence. You can say another thing about Stanley Kubrick's (and can see this also in "2001"): he had good taste in music.
Perhaps I am writing this review a little too early. Maybe "A Clockwork Orange" is not a film that can be properly analyzed and reviewed after a single, unprepared viewing. But I will say this about my first impression of this dark and perverse tale. It is good film-making. And the performance by Malcolm McDowell is hands-down brilliant.