the most underrated film ever made!!!

Rating: 10/10 (20 October 2000)

On release, Barry Lyndon was critically savaged for no real good reason, some even saying that the film was too beautiful. although critics are more correct then you would usually think in most cases, in this case however they couldn't have been more incorrect.
One certainly wonders why it was so picked upon, in fact I havent a clue why as this is simply one of cinema's finest achievements. After Dr strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey and A Clockwork Orange, three more of the finest by the man himself, Stanley Kubrick. You could be forgiven if you had doubts whether he could do it a fourth time, thanks to John Alcott's amazing, rich cinematography, Ken Adam's note perfect production design and of course Stanley Kubrick's exciting, brilliant, matchless direction, this is simply gripping and exhilarating to watch, every frame dripping with pure class, the screenplay finely honed, sensible, realistic and the performances surprisingly excellent, especially Ryan O Neal who in other films like Walter Hill's The Driver is rather bland, but here his potential is realised a hundred fold.
But Marisa Berenson also scores as his wife giving a subtle engaging performance giving justice to the story, the script and the direction.
Based on a minor Thackeray novel, the story under Kubrick's masterful touch becomes anything but minor which follows O Neal's adventurer Redmond Barry who as an army deserter rises to the top of high society by marrying Mrs Lyndon ( Berenson ) but due to his greed falls slowly to the bottom. Together with the Godfather Part 2, Barry Lyndon is perhaps the ultimate cinematic statement of how power and greed corrupt and thanks to Kubrick who also adapted the script meshes together this important theme with the visual splendor to achieve a perfectly balanced, atmospheric three dimensional effect that is often staggering and heart poundingly gripping to watch. Perhaps the best example of this is when the circumstances of Redmond's greed catch up with him and he takes part in a duel with his son in law, not only does the pure brilliance and the perfect co ordination of the scene blow you away, it's the sheer suspense of wanting to know what happens to Barry next as despite his greed is still an human and most of us would do the same if given the chance and we deep down know it. Winning oscars deservedly for it's photography, art direction, costumes and adapted score, there can be doubt of it's sheer brilliance, a film manages to be different from Kubrick's others, substituting his trademark icy intelligence for a more suitable emotional warmth, this is undoubtedly his most moving picture, together with A Clockwork Orange this is a great contender for the honour of his best picture but most importantly, ignore the critics, it's an utterly unmissable epic of the finest kind, in fact as Barry Norman said " it's the most beautiful film i can remember " too right.