Too bad Kubrick had to end his career with a false note . . .

Rating: 6/10 (21 June 2005)

I've always considered Stanley Kubrick as one of the biggest geniuses ever to have worked in Hollywood. A man who has made movies like "Full Metal Jacket", "The Shining", "A Clockwork Orange", "2001: A Space Odyssey" and so many more excellent movies, doesn't deserve any less than to be seen as one of the greatest ever. But I really wonder what he had in mind when making this one. This was his last, but in my opinion also his least...
The movie tells the story of a doctor who becomes obsessed with having a sexual encounter after his wife has admitted that she has had sexual fantasies about a man she once met. She hates the fact that he doesn't admit that he has had similar fantasies in the past and keeps torturing him with the idea. This leads him into unfulfilled encounters with a dead patient's daughter and a hooker, but when he pays a visit to a nightclub where he meets an old friend, he learns about a special secret society where sexual rituals are performed. Intrigued by the unknown, he decides to attend one of their congregations, but almost immediately finds himself in a lot of trouble. Not only is his own life in danger, so are his marriage and the lives of his wife and daughter...
Before you think that I didn't like this movie because of all the nudity or the sexual content, I want you to know that such things don't bother me at all, certainly not when they add to the story and are brought in a very nice way (like in this movie for instance). No, what really bothered me about this movie was it's incredibly slow pace. I'm used to watch alternative and 'foreign' (read European, South American and Asian movies), but this certainly was one of the slowest that I've ever seen. Some will say that it helps to see the 'dream-like' state the characters are in... Possible, but it certainly didn't work for me. I got bored after a while and almost thought about hitting the fast forward button (something that I've never had before with other movies).
I'm not saying that I wanted to see several action scenes in this movie either. Those who know me or those who have read several of my reviews on this website will know that I'm far from a fan of action-filled movies. I hate big explosions, a couple million rounds fired at an innocent bystander,... I really don't like that and don't need it to enjoy a movie. What I want is a very powerful story, some excellent acting and some nice camera-work. That, I did get from this movie at regular moments.
Kubrick certainly knew how to create a certain atmosphere, thanks to the clever use of music and original camera work. And the fact that he chose Kidman and Cruise as his two main actors wasn't a bad choice either. But it is never enough to save the entire movie and the main reason why it got a lot of its publicity is probably because the director died before the project was closed and because Kidman and Cruise decided to end their marriage shortly after the movie was released... As I already said, Kubrick was one of Hollywood's greatest, but this was one of his weaker movies. I give it a 6/10.