The Shining

     The Shining is a movie about a man and his family watching a hotel for the winter.  The man eventually goes crazy and tries to kill his family.  It was not terrible but nothing special.  Even though it was somewhat slow in the beginning, it still managed to keep my attention.  Also, the music helped set the scene a lot, especially when the man, Jack, is chasing his son, Danny, through the maze at the end.  I also thought that Jack Nicholson did a tremendous job in this role.  There were also some things that I did not like about the movie.  While the music was good toward the end, in the beginning it sort of made you think something big was going to happen, then let you down when nothing did.  Also, many things were not explain.  For example, the two girls that Danny sees sometimes, the torrent of blood that the man's wife, Wendy, sees at the end, the skeletons Wendy sees rotting, and the picture of Jack at the in from the 1920's.  I did not really understand these things and would have liked to have them explained more.  I also thought the cook coming back was weird because he died immediately and did not do anything.  The ending was also very abrupt and it seemed like they ran out of money and had to end it quickly; I just thought the ending was not very good and did not have a ton of closure.
     The main themes it encompasses are Man vs himself and the Battle.  It shows man vs himself because Jack is struggling in his mind and eventually goes mad.  He goes crazy then tries to murder his family.  It shows the battle because it shows Jack chasing his wife and sin around trying to kill them, but it is also shown through Danny and the people he sees and his "imaginary friend" Tony.  He fights to try to get them to leave him alone.  Overall, I would give this movie a 2.5 out of 5.  If the ending had more closure and explained more things, then it would be a little higher.