Fantastic style

Rating: 7/10 (27 August 2019)

I'm not sure why this one has never resonated with me quite as much as it does with so many others. I like it, and thought I might like it even more on what was probably my fifth viewing over the years, but it still didn't click to the next level. I love the stunning beginning sequence from the air with the car driving through beautiful mountain scenery, the brilliant dreamlike (or nightmare-like) ending sequence in the maze, the classic moments from Jack Nicholson ('Here's Johnny' and all that), and the horrifying moment when Shelley Duvall finds out that all he's been typing is 'All work and no play...' instead of cranking out the great American novel. Probably my favorite moment was when their boy has gone to the room to get a toy, and we see a shot of Nicholson both on the bed and in a mirror, calling him over. It's absolutely terrifying, because we know he's hurt the boy while drinking in the past, we know something evil is going on with this place, and we see him in that mirror, so perfectly placed in the shot. The style and the cinematography of the film are fantastic.
I guess what holds me back a bit is either the original story from Stephen King, which seems a little overdone, or the direction from Stanley Kubrick, who gives us little nuance. I think it would have been better if it hadn't had all the backstory about the Indian burial site, the place being cursed, the former caretaker having axed his family, and the chef having a psychic connection with the little boy. He's really going to be out there in Florida, feel a disturbance in the Force or whatever, and then fly off to Colorado and drive out to what is supposed to be an inaccessible place? I know stripping all this out would have gutted the film and had King fans howling even more than they do as it is, but I wish it had just been the guy and his family out there for the winter, slowly going crazy, without all the other mumbo-jumbo. The twins are spooky, but the flood of blood from the elevator? I don't know. As it is, to fit all that in, or maybe because of the choices Kubrick made, the pace to insanity is awfully quick, too damn quick, whereas a slow path would have been more terrifyingly tense and real to me. On top of that, Nicholson's performance is memorable for sure, but jeez if only he would emote a little, you know? He should have dialed it down early, to tell the story of gradual descent into madness better, and to make the scenes towards the end more powerful.