Why is this film so undervalued ?

Rating: 9/10 (14 August 2003)

When I first viewed this film I did not know what to expect.Being a Kubrick fan and admirer of all his output I wanted this , his last film to be something special, another masterpiece basically but the initial and in many cases, sustained critical hostility to it made me think that it was going to be an unmitigated disaster. What Kubrick delivered is a unique character study.Cruise and Kidman give brilliant understated performances.Other characters in the film are brilliantly cast no matter how short their screen time.There is a deep undercurrent of evil and nastiness running throughout the film that is unsettling.Cruise's character takes a step outside his normal daily life that is solid and successful and safe into a world he does not belong in, one of danger and menace. Nobody is who they seem.He is in unchartered territory. Kubrick must take credit for the ambience and look of the film and the pace at which the film unfolds, he will lose people's interest along the way but he doesn't care and does not conform,that is why Kubrick is a Cinema great.When Spielberg took to directing their shared interest project 'Artificial Intelligence' he ultimately conformed to making the film a certain way, Kubrick would have made a bolder,darker,colder and ultimately better film.We can only think what would have been. In Eyes Wide Shut, Kubrick has left us a small miracle of a film.It will probably never attain the classic status of his best work (which I rate as 'Lyndon','2001' and 'Clockwork')but should be remembered as a daring and audacious work. *POSSIBLE SPOILERS*!! A word about Tom Cruise.His was an excellent performance that has gone without deserved praise.Note his acting in two particular scenes - when he goes to see the dead girl in the Morgue and also when he goes to see Ziegler who tells him that he knows about everything that has gone on. Cruise never gets really great critical appraisal but he deserved something for this project. Last word for Stanley Kubrick, all film fans owe him something,they may not know it but they do.
Rating 9/10