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The Shining (1980)

Director: Stanley Kubrick

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4 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

If you go to this adaptation of Stephen King's novel expecting to see a horror movie, you'll be disappointed. From the start, Kubrick undercuts potential tension builders by a process of anti-climax; eerie aerial shots accompanied by ponderous music prove to be nothing more than that; the setting is promising enough - an empty, isolated hotel in dead-of-winter Colorado - but Kubrick makes it warm, well-lit and devoid of threat. Granted, John Alcott's cinematography is impressive, and occasionally produces a 'look behind you' panic; but to hang the movie's psychological tension on the leers and grimaces of Nicholson's face (suited though it is to demoniacal expressions), while refusing to develop any sense of the man, is asking for trouble. Similarly, the narrative is too often disregarded in favour of crude and confusing visual shocks. Kubrick's unbalanced approach (over-emphasis on production values) results in soulless cardboard cutouts who can do little to generate audience empathy.

Author: FF 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide

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User reviews of this film

Eimear said...

Posted on Aug 26 2009 04:09 I most certainly don't agree with what Chris said. At least Transformers was well acted, well cast and the mood properly set.
All the tension creation in this film relied on the "eerie music", the film didn't flow well, it all seemed choppy and stop start. The characters were developed terribly, The character of Wendy, who was orignally supposed to be torn between love for her husband and love for her child but essentially a strong woman willing to do whatever it takes, is turned into a dithering arm flapping moron and Jack's transformation is not subtle and slow it's crude and way too blatant. In the space of five minutes, he goes from frustrated to obviously insane..
No flow to this film, actors were terrible (Duvall in particular), and the individual stories (Jack's writing, Wendy and Danny and Dick Halloran in Miami) were all much too disjointed.

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Chris said...

Posted on Jul 20 2009 01:35 You will never understand a genuis's work, because you have simple minds, and don't think outside the box. Leave this movie to intellects, and leave your simple-minded comments for movies like Transformers 2.

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Tom said...

Posted on May 16 2009 17:16 Kubrick's eerie horror genre piece remains spooky decades later. Comments that he does not explore character psychology are true for most if not all of his films - it is the Kubrick style (or intent or flaw, depending on your perspective) that his characters are portrayed as slightly dehumanized. Would you degrade masterpieces such as Dr. Strangelove or 2001 because we don't have a true sense of the inner machinations for the leads?

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caleb said...

Posted on May 15 2009 14:54 I agree with this review. While some of the imagery is memorable, as with other Kubrick films, the story and character development makes me wish he'd kept himself to cinematography.

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