Kubrick seemed ready to pass the torch to new geniuses.

Rating: 6/10 (19 July 1999)

Great storytelling. Poor casting judgment. That's how you can resume Kubrick's last masterpiece.
Unlike film directors from the school of Lucas, Kubrick treats his audience as intelligent human beings. This is actually a filmmaker who wants you to think when watching his film and not just sit there like an idiot, killing time in a dark room for a couple of hours. He doesn't tell you everything that's going on in the story so you have to figure it out for yourself. Besides, the story is carried from the point of view of one person, and that person has to figure out things just like us.
There are some flaws in the movie that stand out too much to be ignored.
Especially in the casting. Tom Cruise, a mediocre actor who happens to work with wonderful people, is never believable as his character. Neither's Nicole Kidman by the way. A street hooker that looks like a model from Vogue Magazine disconnects you from a sense of reality, as well as the minorityless New York Streets. Fortunately this movie will survive the test of time and hopefully in the future the presence of Cruise won't be so distracting from the whole thing.
The story, which is more teasing than sexual, and basically about a confused guy who ends up crashing into a party he wasn't invited. Some supposedly graphic scenes, that must be in the movie to deliver the story, are ruined with computer imaginery. Yet, none of these are enough reasons to discard this movie. A must see, even when is just short of satisfying.