a grand picture, but not the deepest plot around (CONTAINS SPOILERS?)

Rating: Null/10 (18 January 2004)

I'm a new fan of Kubrick, and like the way he thrusts regular (or sometimes not so regular characters) through bizarre circumstances.
Suprisingly for me, Lyndon is a pretty regular storyline, whose interpretation seems faithful to Thackeray's literature. It also seems to run parallel to works like Amadeus, Barber of Siberia, and A Clockwork Orange. Set against social class division, subject to fate and intervention, (and some lust), with lavish costume and backgrounds, a defining path of the rise and fall of a male (yes, always a dominant male) adulthood is chronicled. And once more, the film is delivered to us often via a narrator, so we feel the main character to be more of a subject who provides an example of a 'type' rather than a personalised human being who we can get very close to.
After 3 hours of film, the plot can be extracted as follows: -A 'young' Redmond Barry falls for a woman already taken by a Captain Quinn.
-After believing he has killed Quinn in a duel, Barry must leave home and find his own path. He ends up enrolling in the army. -A few scuffles in the army later, he manages to get out and back to his plan of 'becoming a gentleman'. -For a want of money, he then marries Lady Lyndon, who already has a son, but then bares another with Barry. -In an attempt to gain the title of 'Lord Lyndon', Barry squanders away Lady Lyndon's fortune, leading to the hate relationship between Barry and his step son to widen, and thus being the key for Barry's demise.
This is slightly simplified, but does include all the main plot points, so can suggest that really there is not a great deal to the plot when compared to other great epical movies. Also, the ending is rather abrupt considering the time it takes to arrive there. Nevertheless, it is impressive how Kubrick does manage to sustain a great filming quality for the entire 3 hours of the film. The costumes in particular are superb, and you really do feel emerged in the 18th century. I was glad Kubrick also managed to suppress his exposure of boobs and nudity that he likes to insert in his other works.
A good film for period drama lovers.