Maybe not what you think

Rating: Null/10 (16 July 2011)

I am a huge! Kubrick fan but I think that maybe this movie was less than some people think it was.
Yes it is an exploration of people's sexuality, and yes it is about a man's descent into depravity and even violence (indirectly), but I think it was also the last gasp of a man who wanted to make a film about sex when he was too old to grasp the actual facts of what it is like to be obsessed with sex. It seems to me to be more about the idea of sexuality than the realism of it.
A few graphic sex scenes do not make a good erotic film, which I believe this was supposed to be. A far better example of this would be "Last Tango in Paris.", which is about the most perfect erotic movie ever made. To me that is what it seems like Kubrick was trying to make. "Last Tango" in America or London.
Without a doubt, some of the scenes in "Eyes Wide Shut" are beautiful and well thought out and well shot, like the walk through the sex club, edited or not. That is magnificent.
Kubrick definitely had an eye for the camera, I don't think anyone would dispute that (least of all me), but all in all the story ,through dialogue or through visuals, is lacking. The raw, sexual power that could have been portrayed, just isn't. One of the best scenes, visually, is the scene where Cruise is asked to tend to a woman who had a drug overdose, but it just ends up being a naked woman who had a drug overdose. Not very sexy.
I hate to beat a dead horse but, in "Last Tango", the scene with the butter is far more realistic and erotic than anything in "EWS". Kubrick could have made the most erotic and most provocative film ever if he was 30 years younger. I would love to see what he would have done with this script then. Now, I think he was doing his best, but just didn't have the same intensity that was required for this film. It required a younger director to really bring the sexual parts of this movie to life.
As always, the scenes are meticulous and breathtaking. The lights in the club are just amazing. Cruise walking through the city is remarkable. But the sexual element is missing, and that is supposed to be the main theme of the film.
If you had given a camera to Kubrick when he was 18 and told him to make an erotic movie, it probably would have been one of the most amazing things seen on film, but now, it seems to be just an excercise that does not live up to it's potential.