An unusually sloppy Kubrick effort

Rating: 3/10 (15 November 2018)

I first watched THE SHINING shortly after it came out, in 1980. By then, I was already a firm Kubrick fan, after watching THE KILLING, PATHS OF GLORY, DR STRANGELOVE, CLOCKWORK ORANGE, BARRY LYNDON and, above all, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY.
Unfortunately, I found THE SHINING well below the quality of its predecessors and, in truth, Kubrick entered a downward path from then on, even if his movies were always interesting and imaginative in a variety of ways.
THE SHINING opens with an unusual piece of sloppiness, provided by the overhead tracking shot up to the hotel, and you see the overflying helicopter's shadow on surrounding hills and ground for a few seconds. It sets the tone for a recurrent mixture of careless shots with masterly sequences, all ultimately undermined by a script riddled with credibility holes, an unconvincing supernatural presence, and a mansion/hotel that is not as haunting as Kubrick would like it to be, among other goofs and structural shortcomings.
Naturally, in light of the above, direction is disappointing: Kubrick is unusually sloppy and unobservant of detail. Cinematography is uneven, with some brilliantly executed sequences, and some pedestrian ones. Finally, the acting: Jack Nicholson is supposed to play the paranoid and schizophrenic Torrance, but he plays Jack Nicholson, trotting out all his usual mannerisms; Shelley Duvall shrieks far more than she acts; Danny LLoyd, her son, seems a bit spaced out, but perhaps that is part of the powers that eventually cause him to neutralize the family«s nemesis; Scatman Crothers I remember for massively bandy legs and the pictures of beautiful topless black women on the wall, rather than for the quality of his acting; and Philip Stone is the exception, with a short but well performed part.
Nothing memorable about this Kubrick effort, least of all the rather pat ending.