Good acting, great directing, but still weak

Rating: 6/10 (30 July 1999)

I loved Nicole Kidman. Alice is a dynamic character and I believe this is a great role for Kidman to show a lot of range. I wish the same could be said for the rest of the characters. Bill Harford (Cruise) is a flat character through the entire movie. You hope for tragedy or heroism (or at least decisiveness), but all I could feel for this character was pity. He is not a character that engages the viewer.
This is not to say that Tom Cruise does a bad job. I believe he put the same dramatic talent into this as I saw in Jerry Maguire, a movie that I love. My complaint is that he plays Bill Harford too much like Jerry Maguire. He appears to have found a good character (somewhere around The Firm), and is now bringing it with him to each new job.
I am a great fan of extended dramatic pauses, and I believe EWS occasionally makes brilliant use of them. Kidman is not afraid to be silent when it's "her turn to talk," and this is very effective. At least at one point, the audience is aware of things several minutes before the players, which creates a wonderful kind of tension. But as with anything, there can be too much of a good thing, and EWS often goes beyond dramatic pauses into just pauses. Beyond just being a long movie, there is a sense that it really isn't going anywhere. Events that occur during a single morning feel more like they stretch over several days. The slowness of plot might be acceptable if the characters were more engaging, but given that Cruise has so much of the screen time and provides so little for the audience to relate to, it can be hard to stay with the movie the whole time.

Music is certainly a very important part of EWS, and the almost abstract nature of the piano pieces could have greatly added to the mood and suspense of the movie. Unfortunately it is often just too loud and jarring to do this effectively.
Kubrick fans should certainly see this movie. It is a significant part of a defining career. Those interested in film as an art form should also go see it. There is plenty of material for discussion whether you enjoy the movie or not. Those just interested in a good movie, though, should probably look elsewhere. And despite the amount of nudity in this file, those looking for erotica should definitely look elsewhere.
But I still loved Nicole Kidman.