A film described as the sociological masterpiece of the decade and, often as dangerously vicious

Rating: 9/10 (15 June 2000)

"A Clockwork Orange" starts out with Alex and his gang of "droogs" sitting in the Kerova milk bar drinking the milk plus... Then the camera starts slowly to move back and we see naked female statues and drink machines which purl out the milk through their breasts...
McDowell is splendid as the star-child Alex... He is simply a vicious and amazing sadist monster, lethal in his sincerity, taking delight in rape and violence... Never such a vile character has been so charismatic and attractive...
His life is perplexing, questionable and terrifying... He doesn't show the slightest regard for other's rights or morality... He doesn't even regard his victims as human beings...
His paradoxical character is in nearly every scene... McDowell captures Alex's human and inhuman side with equal skill... Alex is a victim at the mercy of an uncaring society, condemned to the physically unbearable "dislike therapy" and preyed upon by his former targets...
Set in England in the near future a future which vaguely reflects our own, but it seems that society has started to crumble and at night the streets are driven with teenage gangs who run free of parental control...
"A Clockwork Orange" is too strong for some people to accept and is still too powerful today... It is an extremely disturbing meditation on the violent nature of man... Kubrick emphasizes the human element by paradoxically dehumanizing the characters...
Viewers see images they may not have wanted to see, but will never be able to forget... He presents violence in a confusing and increasing fashion that makes it alarmingly attractive... He invites us to join Alex in raping and pillaging into London urban jungle to show that violence and power are invariably attractive... He makes good use of the camera, showing, in strange ways, the furious underworld of Alex...
Kubrick is the driving force behind "A Clockwork Orange." The film is without exception his picture... He took the novel of Anthony Burgess re-shaping it to fit his own vision... Images and sound pull in different directions, stimulating conflicting emotions...
In a bizarre juxtaposition of often classical music with violence, we see ourselves manipulated into cheering for Alex, despite his brutal and amoral nature... We are forced to really think about the implications of the events with no answer...
The film serves as a battleground for philosophical arguments making comments without forcing an opinion instead preferring that we ourselves decide what to make of the satire... Exposing themes to think about, significant prediction, liberalism of society, sexual acts gaining acceptance, violent films in higher degree, alcohol-currently legal, accounts for many acts of violence, crime out of control, violence in schools, television, illustrating the inconstant nature of public opinion, raising questions, themes and ideas that many people would prefer not to confront...
Style has always been one of Kubrick's strong points... He maintained a reputation for an obsessive attention to detail... He was known for getting the most out of his actors... Distinct images often play a significant part in his films...
With its dynamic bizarre sets and pulsating classical music score, and with a word of warning on how bad violence is and should be watched very closely, Kubrick's motion picture is unsurpassed with intellectual content... It is a film described often as the sociological masterpiece of the decade and, often as dangerously vicious a film with more violent sex and dangerous thugs than any other I can remember, a film which daringly brought to larger-than-life those areas of the unconscious mind which some people felt were best left hidden
It is also highly dramatic, extremely graphic, compelling and provoking... It is frightening and intriguing masterpiece with a powerful message about the reality of human nature...