Alex (Malcom McDowell) is a teenaged hooligan who tools around with his cohort of other hooligans, robbing, raping, and assaulting people until he is betrayed by his gang and arrested. He is chosen to be the pilot program for a new government-funded anti-crime measure which is just aversion therapy and some mild brainwashing. Thus declawed, Alex is released back into society to face justice in the form of consequences from his victims.
Eh. This is not one of Kubrick's best. It feels low-budget somehow, tacky and cheap where it should have been full spectacle. Maybe it seems so dated because it tried way too hard to be neo-futuristic.
Content-wise, I was pretty bored. The violence doesn't seem shocking or visceral. McDowell tries to give "young sociopath" a go but is missing the edge somehow. Maybe the narration softens it. I think it might have been better to just see Alex's actions instead of hearing his rationalizations. Like the movie tried too hard to bring in elements of the book. Which, very famously, had the last chapter (in which the character expresses remorse and shows growth and maturity) cut for an American release. Possibly the most American thing ever. Kubrick was aware of the missing chapter but thought it ruined the character so he deliberately filmed the American version. The term "edgelord" hadn't been invented in his lifetime, but I think we can apply it posthumously.
This is considered a Cinema Classic but I found it overrated. It's currently streaming on the Criterion Channel if you want to give it a shot.
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