A Magnificent, Captivating Failure.

Rating: Null/10 (24 October 1999)

I have to declare myself as a Kubrick disciple since I saw 2001 when I was 12. I actually burst out into tears in public when I heard he'd died. So I can say that I was almost too scared to see this movie in case it disappointed. As a piece of work it is utterly beguiling. From the opening frames he once again transports you into a world all of his own and which you seem to yearn to return to once released from it. That is what he did like no other filmmaker ever.
But is it a good film? I think that Stanley actually trod on a bit of a mine with this. Having made the definitive films dealing with many other genres, he had obviously brooded for 20 years on bringing that same dispassionate, yet disturbingly vibrant eye to sex. And I get the conclusion from this film that he is ultimately disallusioned with cornering his prey. Where war, space and psychopathy render huge revalations and insights by his 'freeze' treatment, I get the impression that the conclusion he comes to in the end, is that the subject matter is found wanting of drama. In short, that sex is ultimately boring.
I personally found this conclusion actually quite ironically humourous and therefore it didn't really ruin the film for me, but then I am a Kubrick nut!