Disappointing beyond words

Rating: Null/10 (4 August 1999)

Within five minutes, this film had thoroughly disappointed me, and it only went downhill from there. The acting was horrid (with the notable exception of Nicole Kidman), the directing was hideous, I'm sorry, but with an average of 30 takes per shot, he could have elicited more from these poor performances. I felt like I was sitting in on a high school drama class; the pauses and emoting were painful to watch. The cinematography was sloppy. It may be his style, but it was impossible to watch. The plot and dialogue were both exceptionally poor! The sound editing was irritating and sophomoric. I'll be the first to admit that I didn't worship at Mt. Kubrick, but this film was devestatingly awful. If anyone else had made it, or tried to make it, it would have never been released, and not even lauded the way this one has. The emporer had no clothes, and no one was ready to tell him. Avoid this at all costs, if you can. Either Kubrick went senile when he was shooting this, or he never was a very good director to begin with.