Visually stunning, surprisingly watchable film

Rating: 6/10 (25 January 2008)

I honestly wasn't expecting much from this film based on previous reviews, but I was pleasantly surprised. It proved to be a sumptuous, visually stunning period piece which is surprisingly watchable despite the three-hour length.
The good news is that the film is a gorgeous spectacle to behold, with nearly every shot being a visual delight. Apparently most of the film was shot using natural light due to the use of NASA designed cameras with extremely fast shutter speed, yadda yadda, but you know all that already. Also on the plus side, while the story tends to meander a bit there's still enough going on that I never quite lost interest. I wish I could say the same for every three-hour epic I've sat through...
Now the bad news...While watching this film I got the distinct impression that Kubrick concentrated almost solely on the visuals to the exclusion of almost everything else. Thus, the plot meanders, the characterization is poor or nearly non-existent in some cases, and the musical score is extremely repetitive and boring.
However, there's still enough beauty in this film for me to give it a positive review and recommend it to other Kubrick fans or period-piece aficionados.