Utterly Original And Altogether Exhilarating.

Rating: 10/10 (5 November 2007)

"A Clockwork Orange" is one of the strangest but most intriguing films I can think of. It's an altogether bizarre experience and quite "out-there", but the work displayed here is just flat out excellent. The film centers on Alex de Large (Malcolm McDowell), a delinquent in future Britain who feeds off of sex and violence. But when he is arrested and put through a mind-changing experiment by the government, things don't all go as planned.
What most would consider Kubrick's best film, "A Clockwork Orange" is one of those movies you need to watch more than once to fully enjoy. The first viewing is the strangest because it takes awhile for the viewer to fall into the alternate reality and become accustomed to it. But once you let yourself into it, it becomes a much more interesting movie. It's a mind trip for sure, and a flawless one at that. Sometimes it's downright funny, and others it's extremely disturbing - the emotions in the movie range all across the spectrum.
The dialogue and script is all pitch-perfect, the acting is stunning especially from McDowell, and the atmosphere and imagery is to die for. The set pieces and overall feel of the movie is unique, with a sort of retro '70s-gone-wild architecture. The score is amazing, mostly consisting of good old "Ludwig Van" and mainly classical music, but the score plays along with the movie perfectly. Kubrick's camera-work is great and his overall style is unmatched - I saw many similarities between this and his later horror classic "The Shining" while I was watching this. His style and overall tone is unique, and his vision completely original - it's not hard to see why he became one of the most beloved filmmakers of all time.
Overall, "A Clockwork Orange" is a film unlike any other. It offers a disturbing look into a fictional character's life, and everything that it revolves around is completely enthralling. Beautiful cinematography and camera-work, perfect performances, unique imagery and atmosphere, and a painfully bizarre story make this one of the all-time film classics. It's a film that is hard to describe - you sort of just have to see it for yourself, and more likely than not, you will appreciate it and enjoy it as countless others have. 10/10.