Not a masterpiece

Rating: 8/10 (5 January 2006)

I don't mind watching this once in a while for a few reasons.
First. This movie is in format 1.33:1 fullscreen which means that the screen of my old TV set is completely filled whereas almost all movies of the last 40 years are more or less panoramic or "widescreen".
Second. The light in this movie is excellent along with the quality of the images. Kubrick, unlike some directors, handled with care the original negatives of his movies. That is why today Kubrick's films are the most outstanding from an "image quality" point of view despite the fact that they all aged. (Space Odyssey is from 1968). This means respect for the viewer.
Third. The fact that Jack Nicholson looks half crazy from the very first scene rather adds something to the movie instead of penalizing it. From the very first scene we are already tuned on the upcoming outburst of Jack Torrance. We just can't wait till it happens.
The atmosphere is very particular. Some scenes are really the ones of a "horror movie" and by this I mean that the term "horror movie" is very abused.
But I did notice a few things that I didn't like. It happened during the sequence of Jack Torrance with the bartender. I noticed that when Jack is talking, the bartender is out of the picture and we only see a very small portion of his shoulder. When the bartender is talking, Jack is also out of the picture and we only see a small portion of his shoulder also. What kind of a technique is that? Was Kubrick too lazy to work with the 2 actors together? I bet you that when the bartender was filming his scene, that small shoulder we see was the one of a technician and Jack Nicholson was relaxing in his dressing room.
The same thing happens in a more dramatic scene, when Jack Torrance has gone definitely nuts and is about to attack his wife. Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall are never pictured together. If we see Jack, Shelley isn't there and vice versa (except for that famous small portion of shoulder). I think this scene looses much of its dramatic intensity. In the scenes where Shelley was blubbering I couldn't stop thinking of Nicholson probably having a day off.
The scene of Nicholson definitely going nuts is where the movie ends. Every mechanism of the movie drops. The tension of the movie is now uniquely in a physical match which appears right away almost ridiculous. We have a too slow moving Nicholson opposed to a very awkward and clumsy woman. The final part is really without any surprise as we all know what will happen.
From very good to excellent. But not a masterpiece.