Eyes Wide Shut

 

        Going to finish my final days of 2025 in the best way possible well, sort of. So, this year I've pretty much watched a grand total of five or six, of legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick. And this one, I have mixed feelings in terms of story, though truth be told this was Kubrick's final film furthermore passed away shortly before the film's postproduction. Staring starring former husband and wife Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, moreover I remember this film’s release as well as looking at a VHS copy of the film and making a long story short this was a movie I remember seeing previews of but never watched because I was a kid. 

        After Dr. Bill Hartford's (Tom Cruise) wife, Alice (Nicole Kidman), admits to having sexual fantasies about a man she met, Bill becomes obsessed with having sexual encounter. He discovers an underground sexual group (nothing to do with Epstein, quote, unquote) and attends one of their meetings -- and quickly discovers that he's in over his head.

        I will admit when I say this that I do in fact remember seeing numerous previews of this movie growing up and they continue to talk about this being Kubrick's final work, that was pretty much it, as well as this being marketed to be an erotic thriller with Chris Isaak's "Baby Did a Bad, Bad Thing" in the background. And really this was one of those movies I knew I was never going to watch but more importantly this was the first time I ever heard of Stanley Kubrick, much to less didn't know he made such iconic movies through the years. The idea of Eyes Wide Shut came around Kubrick was finishing 2001: A Space Odyssey, and after buying the rights to a book titled a Dream Story (which was published during 68), Kubrick declared this to be his next project. Although through the course of the decade it' was stacked on the shelf to gather dust until the early nineties. Having finally watched this film all the way through I still have mixed feelings about the movie though it has a lot to do with the story as well as the post-production part of the film, mainly the film was already done but again Kubrick passed away during midst of the postproduction of Eyes Wide Shut. Surprising factor is that the film was shot around October of 1996 to February of 1997, and while in principal photography Kubrick was still in the editing process around December of 1996, moreover while this film was being made a year ago in 1995, Cruise man was still working on the first Mission Impossible so, there's some good explanations in terms of that year Tom being extremely busy. Getting back to the topic at hand, which is Kubrick's passing and the fate of Eyes Wide Shut's completion, there could be some assumptions that this film was indeed not completed to the liking of either side and that goes to both Kubrick and Warner Brothers as well as Tom Cruise himself moreover Kubrick may or may not of had some fights brewing with both parties, for which to me makes a lot of sense considering there's a ton of the story's elements that just feels out of place like where was this secret society that could of been formed by Jeffery Epstein quote, unquote what are their intent or WHAT their purpose is, and I have no clue in that factor other than Tom Cruise hears about his real life wife's fantasy and drives him to an obsession wanting to plow another female encounter, either way this film feels out of place because we don't have a whole lot of explanation or common sense, and some of that has to do with the secret society being shrouded in mystery when we don't get any of the answers of what they are essentially. Garret Brown, the inventor of the actual Steadicam expresses Eyes Wide Shut being an unfinished film, stating in his own words "I think Eyes Wide Shut was snatched up by the studio when Stanley died and they just grabbed the highest number Avid edit and ran off as if that was the movie. But it was three months before the movie was released. I don't think there's a chance that it was the movie he had in mind, or the music track and a lot of other things. It's a great shame because you know it's out there, but it doesn't feel to me as if it's really his film". Even R. Lee Ermey who previously worked with Kubrick on Full Metal Jacket stated he phoned him two weeks before his passing, according to Ermey in a Radar Magazine during the phone call Kubrick "He told me it was a piece of shit, and was disgusted with it and that the critics were going to 'have him for lunch'. He said Cruise and Kidman had their way with him -- exactly his words used". So, deep down this film alone which was supposed to be his final bow turned into a nightmare which this film is a bad case of that especially when this should of been Kubrick's final bow but it turned to be out of control and even when you pick fights with both the Studio heads and Tom Cruise, who we all know is a huge control freak. As much as I want to say this film is better than 2001 and the Shinning, I would even consider my own words to be not true moreover it's not the worst thing I've seen out of Kubrick's filmography, in fact I would rate this film as a six out of ten, for which is pretty good but defiantly not his finest works. In terms of recommendation I would certainly recommend watching this movie just because it's one of those films that you need to experience as a cinema fan, and more importantly this is one of these films that turned out to be a tragedy film in terms of this being the death of Kubrick and never really, had the chance to express his vision of the film if he hold on just a little bit more. Though somewhere in the afterlife Kubrick is up there still editing Eyes Wide Shut, or he may be in Hell and is repeating the cycle repeatedly, for which I doubt will ever know.