worthy of the wait I've had to endure to see it

Rating: 10/10 (8 March 2004)

SPOILERS
Ok, let's say straight away that I love the idea of this movie. Based around the Cold War, the worries and fears and signs of incompetence it shows from back then are still present in 2004. Kubrick, Sellers & everyone else involved have produced a Gem.
In "Dr Strangelove", Sellers acts not only as the title role, but also as the hard hitting President Muffley and also as Captain Mandrake of her Majesty's Royal Air Force. When Mandrake's superior General Jack D. Ripper launches a nuclear attack on Russia, there is panic at the Pentagon and the remainder of the film is spent attempting to solve this problem.
Three key things struck me during this film to be honest. Firstly at times it did feel very dated. Unlike in the original version of "The Little Shop Of Horrors", the film had been kept in a decent quality and it transfered very well to dvd. Having said this, at times it felt simply a bit too out of time. This first problem was however cancelled out by the second two things I noticed about this film.
The second key thing about this film which really stands out is, as you'd expect, Peter Seller's amazing performance, once again, as three of the main characters. It is depressing to think sometimes how so many great comedians of the past lived tragic lives, Sellers & Hancock to name two, but when watching a film like this, we are reminded that these men will leave indelible marks on our lives forever. Sellers is outstanding, and is surrounded by an excellent supporting cast.
Finally, and most importantly of all, the key point which springs to mind when viewing "Dr Strangelove" is just how funny certain parts of it are. Lines like "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room" are just parts of moments which add to the comic element of this film.
Truthfully what makes this movie I think is that even now it is being viewed in a world where stupidity dominates the political landscape and where you get the feeling that at any moment beurocracy could screw up and we'd have a nuclear war on our hands. I feel that if we were living in a world where the Hippy Peace Movements had got their way and there were no weapons and no fighting and everyone lived in peace, then this film would be nowhere near as funny. As it happens, we don't, and this film is down as one of the best comedy masterpieces of all time.