Cold but impressive

Rating: 10/10 (26 September 2004)

Black BLACK satire by Stanley Kubrick about nuclear war. I hated this the first time I saw it--but I've since revised my opinion. I can see why I didn't like this at first. Even though it's a satire it's full of very unlikable, totally crazy characters. It's shot in stark black & white and I still don't find the idea of nuclear war very funny. Also Kubrick has always been a very 'cold' director--he seems very cynical in all his movies and they have a cruel, detached view to them (especially "2001"). This is no exception but I have to admit it is (in its way) a masterpiece.
It's never dull, has some incredibly funny moments (Sellers conversations with the Russian premier are hysterical) and moves like lightning. The cast is just great--George C. Scott enjoyably goes barreling out of control as the military leader; Sterling Hayden is just great as the guy who starts the war; even Slim Pickens was good! And this was James Earl Jones' first film.
But this film belongs to Peter Sellers--he plays three different roles and he's magnificent in all of them. He plays each one completely different and does a great job constantly. Just unbelievable.
So...I still find the film a little too cold and don't find it particularly funny but it IS a masterpiece. I give it a 10.