Imaginative, inspired, horrifying, somewhat inconclusive, yet satisfying

Rating: 9/10 (16 February 2006)

A Clockwork Orange is an amazing movie full of imagery, grotesque behavior of rape, fighting, murder, karma, heart-wrenching sympathy and eyebrow-lifting shock combined together in a single wonderful package that (aside from the old-fashioned cassettes and records) defies time.
The movie is told and centered around young Alexander "Alex" de Large, who lives in the not-to-distant future as a young and violent sociopath. One of my few complaints is that Alex (McDowell) does not look the age of Alex in the book (teenage).
Alex lives for three main passions: ultra-violence, sex, and Beethoven's masterful classical music. Eventually, however, Alex's cruel and violent behavior catches up to him when he kills an old cat lady. "You are now a murderer Little Alex," laughs Alex's parole officer, and Alex is sentenced to prison for 14 years.
But Alex is quickly sick to the bone of prison and he finds a way out of his long sentence by volunteering as a test subject of the Ludovico Technique: a grotesque and harsh new form of aversion therapy still in the works.
When Alex completes the program, however, everything begins to go terribly wrong. People, who Alex had done wrong to in the past, seek revenge on the now helpless young man. As vicious and torturous karma works mercilessly on Alex, it drives him to the edge and he begins to fear for his future, his humanity, and his life.
Imaginative, inspired, horrifying and satisfying all at the same time, A Clockwork Orange is a strange and somewhat inconclusive movie that raises more issues by its end than answers.
WARNING: A Clockwork Orange is graphic and NEVER holds back. Sex, violence, everything is show except for the guys' genitals. Women are completely naked, raped, and beat around. Guys, while not raped, are certainly treated not much better. It is a bleak future in Alex's world filled with R-rated violence and (surprisingly) not as much bleep-worthy swearing as you one would think.