Kubrick's best serious film

Rating: 10/10 (23 May 2005)

Everyone always raves about "2001: A Space Odyssey," but I've never really warmed up to it as a film. I feel it's now outdated, pretentious and showy -- at the time, it worked because people were in awe of its effects and futuristic interpretations...nowadays it is distinctly '60s-ish, with its drug trip ending empty and really just a way of expressing psychedelic visuals.
"Paths of Glory" is Kubrick's best serious film. (I'd say his best ever if "Dr. Strangelove" didn't exist.) It's anti-war, but more subtle than his 1987 blunder "Full Metal Jacket" (one of the most disappointing war films I've ever seen), which lost its point midway and never really recovered.
"The Shining" and "A Clockwork Orange" are great films as well but in my opinion "Paths of Glory" is Kubrick's best serious film. "Paths of Glory" retains a strong point throughout and is consistently engrossing. It is a World War I picture, but at its heart any war could have been used - this is an examination of the affects of war.
It is well-acted (Douglas' best performance ever!), brilliantly directed and scripted, and features a terrific ending that ranks as (arguably) one of the top-ten best, ever.
Kubrick kept returning to the themes of warfare -- "Barry Lyndon," "Full Metal Jacket" -- but this is his best of the genre and, in my opinion, probably his best dramatic film.
A must-see!