Kubrick's best work? Maybe not, but...

Rating: 5/10 (3 May 2005)

Actually this is one of those movies you have got to see more than once to fully enjoy them. However you may immediately notice (from the first viewing on) that the acting is astonishing: Sterling Hayden, George C. Scott and Peter Sellers, who once more steals the show (and that is very much to say with such an incredible cast). As a whole, the movie is rather macabre and therefore frequently bitter to watch (if you know what you see and clearly understand the message). In fact, it is exactly this aspect of the film that makes us think so much about it.
For Kubrick, the most challenging part of this movie was certainly to keep a certain balance between the farcical and the satirical elements of the plot. And it is here where the film reveals some problems. Unfortunately Kubrick could not always resist the temptation to insist on the comic aspects, and that is why 'Dr. Strangelove' becomes ridiculous, little credible, even laughable and above all hardly convincing in certain scenes. It is especially the title character who (despite Seller's great performance) seems too much caricatured. Nevertheless these moments are (fortunately) not too numerous, so that after all you have seen a greatly directed and acted film. A memorable scene is Kong's ride on the bomb, which is just perfect. Two words (or more) about the ending: It is certainly pessimistic, but it is also the only possible way for such a movie to end without spoiling its pacifistic message.
Rating: 83
MarSco