“A Clockwork Orange” is definitely a memorable movie. But just because it is memorable does not mean that it is a good movie. Take “Kangaroo Jack” for example. Very memorable movie but possibly one of the stupidest movies ever made.
“A Clockwork Orange” is an overrated movie riding on the coat tails of Stanley Kubrick’s direction. Granted it was an interesting movie, I do not think it deserves the cult status that it has.
Kubrick has done some amazing work. In fact some of my favorite movies are Kubrick’s like “Full Metal Jacket, “Dr. Strangelove” and “The Shining”. But “A Clockwork Orange” is simply too weird and feels like the movie was made just for the sake of rousing up controversy.
The story centers around a young boy named Alex that goes around raping and committing acts of violence anywhere he goes with his gang of tight-wearing “droogs.” Eventually he gets arrested by the police and is sent to prison for man-slaughter where he is then admitted into an experimental project that reforms former criminals into law-abiding citizens within weeks by brainwashing them to feel an unbearable sickness whenever they think about committing criminal behavior. The experiment is successful and Alex returns home to find that the world he left behind as a criminal is eager to take revenge.
The plot of the movie has great potential but Kubrick made the mistake of making the movie understandable only if you’ve read the book. There is almost an entire new language in the movie that Alex speaks that doesn’t make much sense unless you’ve done so. In fact, much of the movie didn’t make sense and it felt like a two hour lesson where the deeper meaning is obvious from the get-go. Brainwashing is bad and what comes around goes around. Two lessons that anyone with a conscious already knows and doesn’t need to be reminded with unnecessary rape scenes.
“A Clockwork Orange” was Kubrick’s attempt to be different from the rest. Granted his uniqueness is what makes him such a fine director but he was trying a little bit too hard.
