A powerful dramatic epic, in every sense of the word.

Rating: 10/10 (3 September 2018)

Barry Lyndon, adapted from the novel by William Thackeray, is so tremendously exceptional that it's hard to explain why in a way that hasn't already been said several times over by many reviewers before.
Despite its incredibly long run-time, Barry Lyndon manages to keep the viewer engaged and focused on a character study that weaves the most compelling tale.
Its visuals amaze; every shot is set up so perfectly, it's stunning just to watch the shots begin to "unfold", become fully composed and "lined up", for want of a better term. In fact, pretty much everything about this movie is amazing and honed to perfection - the acting, the cinematography, the drama - even just the colours themselves are gorgeous to look at!
There's very little criticism I can find with this film - so much so that I'm struggling to find anything I can really criticise right off the top of my head. The only slight criticism I can find is that, at times, it seems the characters' accents can 'slip' out a little here and there i.e. Ryan O'Neal's Irish accent seems to come and go quite frequently.
But this isn't enough to truly diminish the film's rating at all.
A 10/10 from me doesn't mean the film is perfect - but Barry Lyndon comes unbelievably close.