The Shining
- Colton Gomez
- Apr 8, 2024
- 4 min read
Updated: Dec 28, 2024
Review
By Colton Gomez | 04/06/24 | 12:32 A.M. Mountain Time
Horror, Mystery | Rated R | 2 hr 26 min | "The Shining" Release Date: May 23, 1980
From the very moment Jack Torrance opens his mouth, something about him seems off. He doesn’t seem to be a well-adjusted member of society, like he has brewing anger underneath his calm and polite charm. As if every word he says to a stranger, he’s really saying, “Come on, test me. Give me a reason to rip your head off.” This is a man with a psychotic foundation. He seems to have done fairly well at suppressing it until now, when he's given seclusion from society. It’s almost as if he’s giving himself permission to act psychotic and any reason his family gives him, no matter how minor, will be enough to light his fuse.
“The Shining” is directed by Stanley Kubrick and is based off the Stephen King novel of the same name. The story follows Jack Torrance and his family who are employed and entrusted to look after the Overlook Hotel during the winter months. Jack is a former schoolteacher turned writer, much like King’s own life. He’s a grouchy and violent drunk who swore off the drink when he accidentally hurt his son, Danny. Danny is just a little boy of five who has an imaginary friend named Tony. He sees premonitions of the Overlook Hotel which scare him so bad, a visit from the doctor is warranted. His mother, Wendy, is a meek, chain-smoking housewife who is the most normal of the Torrance family. The three of them stay at the hotel while Jack struggles to outline his new writing project. Jack can’t seem to get anywhere with his writing and becomes furious when Wendy interrupts him. Wendy becomes frightened by her husband’s erratic behavior, which threatens each of their lives.
I believe Stanley Kubrick’s intentions with this film were to place the audience into a paranoid and schizophrenic state of mind. There are moments of calm and boredom that come from everyday life but are supplemented with strange factors. Danny has an imaginary friend, Tony, but this friend lives in Danny’s mouth, of all places. Tony tells Danny to do certain things, but what those things are, I don’t think we know. Tony hijacks Danny’s body to write “Redrum” on the door. He shows him horrifying images from some source of past and future events, like a pool of blood erupting from an elevator or two little girls lying dead and murdered.
Jack Torrance sees things that aren’t there. He interacts with people that aren’t there. He isn’t bothered by any of these events, but treats them as normal situations, like he’s known these people for years and has been at the Overlook before. He listens to violent counsel from one of these people and is treated as a man on a mission. All the while Wendy is bored and alone, scared and confused.
The film often shoots scenes in a way that gives the feeling that some supernatural entity or force is pushing on this family and manipulating Jack. They are not only convincing, but beautifully done. Helicopter footage of a fast and wide-open push in on a small island above the lake veers off to the side to eventually follow Jack’s car driving to the hotel. A Steadicam follows Danny as he zooms around the hallways on his big wheel, only to stop when he sees a vision come to life.
The performance by Jack Nicholson seems as if he was lacking confident direction in his acting choices. He performs too dynamically in too many categories. A performance that is at times intensely good and convincing as a recovering alcoholic who is tired of being guilt-tripped by his wife. Other times it plays as what someone might think a psychotic or schizophrenic person would do. It’s a very hard balance to achieve, and I believe Kubrick was capable of pinning down that fine line and guiding Nicholson towards that mark. However, knowing that Kubrick notoriously gave much freedom to Nicholson on set and severely constricted and emotionally abused Shelly DuVall, I think this decision to direct in this way actually hurt his film, rather than lent it an air of legitimacy. Maybe it is possible for an actor to find that emotional fine line on their own, but this style of directing is not conducive to creative decision making.
At nearly two and a half hours, the film doesn’t trudge or bore. During the runtime, I was simply taking in the story at the slow-medium pace set by Kubrick. To say a pace is slow, is not a bad thing. It can be a bad thing if the film has nothing to offer in its slow pace. However, the world, characters, and story of “The Shining” are detailed. There’s a lot of information to take in during each scene and there’s much to think about. Characters cautiously look around in silence until they are suddenly facing danger. Montages of little dialogue but visual richness show the deterioration of character and their minds.
This can be called a slow movie, but that’s if you are only interested in action movies. Here, the story is the main course, seasoned with the experience of losing your mind alongside the characters. This film is not about things happening, it’s about people changing and reacting to their changing environment. The pace is set very well and never did I think I was watching a dull moment.
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Review by Colton Gomez
Colton Gomez earned his BA in Film Studies from Weber State University. He owns and operates ColtonGomez.com. Here, he covers new releases in theaters and on streaming. For short versions of his reviews, check out his LetterBoxd
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