Darkly satirical... I loved it!...

Rating: 9/10 (14 April 2012)

Although the effects are not of the quality we expect today, a pretty good job was done considering the technology in the early 1960's. The film was all very well shot, Kubrick had a great eye and I can see the early echoes of the latter scenes in 'Full Metal Jacket' in certain scenes here.
Darkly satirical throughout, I really love the way this film never lets up and portrays the military as the bad guys. Surprisingly the politicians, the President in particular, comes off pretty well in the end. One slight niggle (for me) was that the film was shot in a 4:3 ratio and I'm afraid that did make it look a little dated. I can forgive the fact that it was made in black & white given where, and when, it was made. Over all though, a genuinely entertaining film that has several highs and one that have absolutely no problem in deeming HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
My Score: 9.4/10
IMDb Score: 8.6/10 (based on 196,848 votes at the time of going to press).
MetaScore: 96/100: (Based on 11 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com).
Rotten Tomatoes 'Tomatometer' Score: 100/100 (based on 60 reviews counted at the time of going to press).
Rotten Tomatoes 'Audience' Score: 94/100 (based on 117,100 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
You can find an expanded version of this review on my blog: Thoughts of a SteelMonster.