Film Review: The Shining

Made in 1980

Directed by Stanley Kubrick

Novel by Stephen King

Jack Torrence  volunteers to be the caretaker to The Overlook hotel over the course of five months and makes a long vacation out of it, bringing his family. But the isolation of the hotel along with other things send him into a state of insanity.

Movie Details

The Overlook Hotel Setting

The hotel that the Torrence family was taking care of and staying at was extremely unsettling. The silence of the hotel made even small noises much more impactful and the echoing element of the sounds gave viewers an idea as to how vast the space is. Also, it really reflects the reputation that different characters set up throughout the film.

Camerawork

The continuous tracking shots build a lot of tension and makes the audience feel more grounded in the situation that the family is in. There are many first person shots, as well. These help to give the audience a little taste of what each character is going through and what their feelings about the situation are.

Writing

The dialogue in the beginning is very average, portraying normality in the family and their conversations as well as the hotel. As I was watching and I noticed this, I thought it was very dry and just not good writing. However, as the movie progressed and Jack began to go crazy, it almost added to the effect of the sudden and drastic change in his behavior. You got used to him being an everyday guy, and suddenly he is a maniac. I think that in the end the originally stale writing helped the film’s development. As well as that, the repetition of lines helps hammer the madness of Jack into the minds of viewers and it makes him all the more creepy. The conversations get much more intriguing  as time goes on, and overall it is a very creatively and well written.

Performance

Jack NicholsonJack Torrence

Excellent all around. He did a great job of showing an everyman transform into a madman. The small ticks that he gives the character (like the licking of his lips and the sudden spurts of anger) contributed to his character going insane as well as being a recovering alcoholic. Very good performance.

Shelley DuvallWendy Torrence

There were ups and down of this performance. Her reactions seemed extremely authentic and terrified, but her dialogue was dry and had very little emotion (unless she was in a frightening situation). Her hysterical state when confronting Jack and towards the end of the film in general was incredibly believable and I thought she did a phenomenal job showing true fear in her facial expressions and exclamations.

Danny LloydDanny

The use of Tony made Danny a much more interesting and relevant character. Without Tony, he would’ve been pretty bland and average. He was good for his age and did very well showing fear in his facial expressions. Not the greatest deliverance of lines, but then again, he was very young at the time.

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