There are only a few things I knew going into this movie. I knew it was Stanley Kubrick. I knew it was supposed to be a dark comedy. I knew it was one of those "love it or hate it" kind of films that a lot of people just don't seem to "get." And even going in with all of this knowledge, I don't think it changed anything about my reaction to the film.The film is a dark satire about a crazy general, Jack Ripper (Sterling Hayden), who orders an attack on Russia and stars a process that brings along a possible nuclear holocaust. So a bunch of politicians enter the War Room and try to stop it from happening. Other actors include Peter Sellers (as three different characters, including the titular one), George C. Scott, James Earl Jones, and more.
Despite knowing this was meant to be a dark comedy, I didn't find it all that humorous. There were some parts that did make me chuckle or that I could see as funny. These were most of the War Room sequences (maybe only 1 or 2 outside of those). My favorite bits were the phone calls with Dmitri.
Otherwise, the movie was just... dull. Strangely, I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it, either. To me, it just kind of... exists. The War Room stuff was a lot of fun, but that was probably only half the run-time. And it wasn't until the movie had been going for about 30-35 minutes when things even get entertaining.
The acting, writing, and directing is all relatively solid. There's no problem there. Actually, I'm not sure there's a problem with the movie in general. It just wasn't totally my bag--at least all of it. But I guess that's the issue most people have with the movie. It's very much an acquired taste, as they say, and I can tell why. I know this wasn't much of a review, but I don't have much to say about it. So I'll just stop now before I embarrass myself.
Stop Saying OK! OK.
(P.S. That closes us out for War! Month. This was a long one for me, folks. I thought Western Month was long, but this one felt never-ending. Perhaps it was the fact that the movies are mostly serious, dark, and dreary or perhaps that they're all insanely long--maybe both. It's quite possibly because I only really enjoyed 2 films this month. So, needless to say, I'm pretty happy to be moving on to what I've been assured will be a more uplifting month. Yes, that's right... Nazis.)
