In a near-future Britain, young Alexander DeLarge and his pals get their kicks beating and raping anyone they please. When not destroying the lives of others, Alex swoons to the music of Beethoven. The state, eager to crack down on juvenile crime, gives an incarcerated Alex the option to undergo an invasive procedure that'll rob him of all personal agency. In a time when conscience is a commodity, can Alex change his tune?
Nominated for 4 Oscars. 12 wins & 24 nominations total
Top Critics Reviews
rotten:
A Clockwork Orange is an ideological mess, a paranoid right-wing fantasy masquerading as an Orwellian warning.
– Roger Ebert,
Chicago Sun-Times,
23 Oct 2004
rotten:
A very bad film -- snide, barely competent, and overdrawn -- that enjoys a perennial popularity, perhaps because its confused moral position appeals to the secret Nietzscheans within us.
– Dave Kehr,
Chicago Reader,
8 May 2007
fresh:
Stanley Kubrick's latest film takes the heavy realities of the 'do-your-thing' and 'law-and-order' syndromes, runs them through a cinematic centrifuge, and spews forth the commingled comic horrors of a regulated society.
– A.D. Murphy,
Variety,
8 May 2007
fresh:
Kubrick's contributions are his wit and his eye. The wit, too much at times, is as biting as in Dr. Strangelove, and the production, while of another order, is as spectacular as in 2001.
– Gene Siskel,
Chicago Tribune,
18 Jan 2013
rotten:
A painless, bloodless, and ultimately pointless futuristic fantasy.