Kubrick's War Satire

Rating: 8/10 (18 November 2014)

An insane general (Sterling Hayden) triggers a path to nuclear holocaust that a war room full of politicians and generals frantically try to stop.
What is better than Peter Sellers playing three completely different characters (far better than Eddie Murphy could) and George C. Scott over-acting against his will? Not much.
Say what you will about Stanley Kubrick, but he was not afraid to take risks and go in different directions. He was not a science fiction director (despite "2001" and "Clockwork Orange"), a war director (despite "Paths of Glory") or a noir director (despite "The Killing"). He did it all.
Here he takes on politics and the Cold War, and gives some great satire at a situation so dire you can do nothing but laugh at it. Is this an exaggeration of reality? Of course. But still recognizable enough that we know such a thing is not entirely impossible -- making it such a great satire, even today in a post-Soviet world.