A film that works a dark little spell on its audience

Rating: Null/10 (16 July 1999)

Stanley Kubrick's final film is a fitting close to a director whose career was based on creating films that stepped out of the norm and treated their audiences in an intelligent fashion. The Kubrick trademarks - lush, long tracking shots; cavernous sets; and extended sequences without dialogue where the story unfolds and advances as a visual exposition - are all here, and so absolutely refreshing to see in a day and age where directors feel the need to make a cut every few seconds to supposedly satisfy short attention spans.
Casting Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, arguably the industry's most beautiful couple...as beautiful young professionals whose marriage is about to turn a corner into darker territory...is brilliance in itself, and they handle their roles with both honesty and bravery. Kidman's is the more openly emotional of the two roles, whereas Cruise is required to reflect his increasingly troubled psyche in a largely internal manor. Kubrick pairs the audience with Cruise on his nocturnal odyssey and allows them to know only as much as he knows, and as his character strays further from his marriage, we're the voyeurs with him all the way.
Sydney Pollack also deserves credit for his performance in the film; it's a finely tuned, unusual characterization of a man with more money than morals. He only pops up in films as an actor once in a blue moon, but he certainly makes it worthwhile.
Richly composed and a joy to watch, "Eyes" is the best film to have come out this summer, and a reminder of just how much Stanley Kubrick will be missed.