All work and no play made Stanley a dull boy

Rating: 6/10 (12 January 2016)

I will save time for the people who think otherwise and stubbornly deny contradiction: I believe this was a bad movie. Also, I am not a native speaker. There we go. Probably half the public pulled up their suspenders, adjusted their glasses, popped a Lisinopril and left. That leaves us with the few people who have the courage to question Kubrick.
Sadly, there are only a few, indeed. The Shining started off promising to be a good movie, however it's relevance slowly started to fade. And I don't mean this in a good way, as in adequately simulating madness. The problem is that Kubrick tried to capture the mysterious supernatural causes involved in the descent into madness of Jack Torrance. It simply failed to deliver. Sure, the metaphors are interesting, and original, having yet to be reproduced with success in films, to this day. But the essence is lacking. The psychological metamorphosis of Jack is lacking. It's there, but it's lacking. It's also not convincing enough. The whole idea was to have the secluded mansion play tricks on your mind, yet the only feeling we're being given is that Jack lacks inspiration for a goddamn novel and gives in to the joy of being a serial killer. I've been there with school assignments. But it doesn't stop here. He is even outwitted by a rag and a possessed child, though we're clearly made to understand that Jack's mental capacities have not been disabled, as is capable to simulate regret when locked in the freezer, in an attempt to free himself. So even though he is capable of such things, chasing those two down is beyond him. Even going through a couple of live fences or retracing footsteps is beyond him. And let's not forget the goddamn bunny suit. Donnie, get over there and teach Jack a lesson or two about what he should've done. So I could keep on going with the numerous mistakes or absurdities this movie has to offer, but frankly, I believe that those who would've been convinced have already been. In the end, it's not the score of the movie that matters, or what Stephen King thought of it. Not making the mistake of taking this movie for a deep critique of society ,or whatever, will suffice. A better example of what Kubrick can achieve can be discovered by watching Paths of Glory, for those interested.