Barry Lyndon Reviews

Don’t have enough words to explain myself. Feels like a video game: the dialogue, acting, background music, visuals, even the narration — lots of fun.

Epic experience, would’ve been great in theater.
Very pretty (but a tad overrated in that regard)
Second half slowed down a bit

“Mr Lyndon. We were very fond of Sir Charles Lyndon.”

My 900th Review On Queue

What an extraordinary watch, like holy shit, this is so well made it felt like I was watching an actual memory of history from someone who was actually there. Like the scale, the accuracy, practicality everything about this is so well done and amazing.

—SPECIAL TREATMENT—

Part One - "By What Means Redmond Barry Acquired the Style and Title of Barry Lyndon"

(An absolute masterpiece of an act. It’s beautiful in both visual and dialogue senses, Barry develops incredibly well and it’s so accurate and so well made I’m angry I didn’t get around to this sooner. 11/10)

Part Two - "Containing an Account of the Misfortunes and Disasters Which Befell Barry Lyndon"

(And just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, not only does it, but it excels to a point of no return. Obviously in a different manner, but tbf the manner is just more my taste. 11/10)

Plot 11/10 (An impossible task would be to out do Kubrick when it came to this.)

Soundtrack/Score 10/10 (Beautiful, absolutely fucking beautiful.)

Acting 9.9/10 (Not a single bad performance, but we needed more actors the same level as both Ryan O’ Neal and Leon Vitali.)

Pacing 10/10 (It’s a beast, and yet every second couldn’t be more worth it.)

Cinematography 13/10 (The Greatest cinematography of all time, without a shadow of a doubt. You may be wondering how something can get 13 out of 10, the answer is the fact that top 3 of all times get 12s, if something overtakes then I subtract from other movies, however, a 13 is equal to the one and only GOAT.)

Character Development 10/10 (Barry is many things, a dick, an arsehole but he is not a man who kicks someone while they are down.)

Writing 10/10 (Based off a book and adapted by Kubrick, what did you think was going to happen?

Ending 9.4/10 (Not perfect, but it’s still amazing and satisfying.)

Direction 11/10 (KUBRICK’S GREATEST MOVIE DIRECTION WISE.)

SPECIAL CATEGORY SPECIFICALLY FOR MOVIES THAT VARY IN ACT STRUCTURE

Emotional Impact 8.7/10 (It got me invested and really into Barry’s character, but this wasn’t one of those movies where you feel any kind of strong emotional impact.)

Overall
125/120
10/10
(Note with films like these where it excels in one specific category, like the dark knight, it’s best to go off the /10 rating then the /120.)

I couldn’t get through the whole thing cuz I have an attention span of a goldfish but what I watched was good

Idk what it is with some of Kubrick's films where I really enjoy the first half but the second half is far less interesting. I would've rather seen Barry go on more side quests trying to get ahead than settling down and becoming a dick. This film does look amazing though, and the acting is great, so you can't discredit that.

Long? Yes. But the cinematography, to the acting, to the score, to the makeup, I was still wanting more.

Kubrick 🔛🔝.

It may be beautiful. But thats it. Almost 2 hours in, and still felt like I was waiting for something to happen. Did not excite me.

A lot of people call this movie overrated. This movie is exquisite to watch; each shot is a postcard. This one marks the end of an era of cinema before big budget flicks dominated the art form. Slow and methodical; a pure character study.

This film is a masterpiece of cinematography and acting. Every frame is beautiful. This is one of Kubriks greatest pieces of art put to the silver screen. 10/10

9.3/10

Visually stunning!

It’s nothing new being added to discussion, but it’s baffling how a film can, consistently, look this pretty…

It’s easy to mention virtually any exterior shot as being stunning, but what impressed me most was those set interior; their composition, staging, lighting - of which reminded me a lot of the more recent Amadeus in its usage of natural candle light. Everything about them and how they were captured feels so intentional, and I actually appreciated how “un-fancy” it was with the shots on a whole, regardless of location, the placement of the camera almost always feeling distant and unobtrusive to the story taking place.

The story is actually really simplistic (complimentary) - a tale of the rise, and the inevitable fall of falsely acquired wealth and power. It’s nothing groundbreaking, but it was all just so impressively told. I can’t say everything in the early stages of the last hour worked for me, although soon recovering my interest with that excellent finale, but for the rest of it - it’s remarkable how a such a slow burn can remain so engaging.

Ryan O’Neal was really special here, I think it’s easy to dismiss the performance, especially within the first hour, to undersell it all - but I think that’s entirely the point. O’Neal portrayed Barry as I believe Kubrick intended; passive, unmotivated, almost unbothered frankly. You get a sense of the character and his want for everything, but reluctance to work for it, rather to have it all simply unfold for him - which it does, but it’s really effective in setting up a character so naturally.

Not my favourite Kubrick, and I think a lot of the relentless glaze of people hailing it as a “hidden masterpiece of Kubrick’s filmography” hurts it for those who’ve bared witness to it. But a fantastic film nonetheless, one that I fully intended to revisit.

I admittedly was growing increasingly annoyed every minute in the first hour the flutes were loudly playing over the dialogue but as soon as the flutes weren’t as prominent, I felt I could enjoy the rest of the film. The candle light and pastoral scenes were obviously stunning. Lady Lyndon had gorgeous costume and makeup 😍 I really enjoyed the second half

THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE MOVIES OMGG

Beautiful! Vibes and locations were beautiful. Story was touching.

8.8/10

don't get me wrong this movie had GREAT cinematography and just really amazing visuals, but plot wise it didn't really interest me as much

7.9/10. Super interesting movie. The shooting, style, and storytelling were really good. Typically not my go to old Victorian movie style but enjoyed a couple duels and enjoy how it goes through Barry’s whole life. Give it a while before a rewatch haha

Ok Irish boy

Good

norm, one time watch