2001: A Space Odyssey is the greatest Sci-Fi film ever.

I will now post my rebuttals towards my opponents rebuttals against my arguments, and against his arguments. A. My Arguments: 1. Major Influence To imply that the Science Fiction genre is like the Coliseum or the Notre Dame, and 2001 is just one measly brick is ludicrous. Transformers: Dark of the Moon would be a brick. 2001 is more like a column in the Temple of Apollo, and without it the Temple would be vastly different. Also I just put in Kanye West to show how far this movie's influence has extended. 2. Art I accept your definition of "art". While I agree that the film does not have the pace of say Crank, I think that the beautiful sets, the massive spaceships, the beautiful interiors, the detailed portrayal of an idealistic future where mankind is not bound by the limitations of this Earth make up for it's slow pace. B. The Weak Points of 2001: A Space Odyssey: I will now rebut my opponent's arguments. 1. Style Over Substance "This is a movie where "things looking cool" is more important than anything actually happening. This is a movie where the vast majority of time -nothing is happening-, nothing is being said, and nothing is being done. " While I do agree that 2001 relies more on special-effects and lavish sets than dialogue, it actually has some symbolism, some sort of meaning to it. There have been plenty of movies like Transformers, Avatar, and Star Wars which rely more on special effects than actual plot. Does anybody honestly remember anything about Transformers other than Megatron = Evil, Optimus = Good, and Explosions = Cool, or Avatar other than the Blue people were angry? 2. Slow Pace "This is how the movie starts: First, the ridiculous landscape shots opening that takes forever. " Okay, yes this movie does have a slow pace, but every thing has some some sort of meaning. You have to look deeper at it. The imagery in this movie is symbolic. Compare the monkey's at the monolith to the astronauts at the monolith at the moon. I will admit this movie is a bit dated. The beautiful long shots were amazing when they were the newest thing in 1968 maybe, but it just seems too long in our modern times. But what does that say about our society? 3. Lack of coherent plot for 1/3rd of the movie I feel that if you really look at it that the beginning of the film actually ties in to the rest. The monkeys discovering the monolith and gaining intelligence and basically using technology. That bone, their first usage of technology, match cuts into a beautiful satellite. Now the astronauts have discovered a new monolith on the moon. It's cryptic. The movie is a bit dated, but remember the times. There had never been such a dazzling movie like 2001 before. It's a masterpiece not because it's a Stanley Kubrick film, (if so Spartacus, Full Metal Jacket, and Eyes Wide Shut would be considered masterpieces) it's considered a masterpiece for it's innovative special effects, alluring imagery, and for it's usage of fantastic classical music in place of traditional narrative. A quote from Benjamin Ross: "Kubrick argued that film has not progressed at a formal level since the first pioneers discovered its basic syntax of composition, montage and mise en scene. .. From "2001" onwards his narratives have been the most experimental in the mainstream. They have somehow contrived to become both more visceral and more abstract--inviting and repelling interpretation with equal measure. .. enigmas which contain rather than yield up their complexity, demanding to be felt and experienced before they are analysed. Kubrick likes to invert the half-baked sentimentalities of conventional film narrative so that something more substantial can emerge. And this "something" turns out to be moments, images, or whole narratives of stunning emotional primacy, so self-contained as to be perfectly mysterious and dreamlike. " 4. The Movie is Extremely Boring and Sleep Inducing I feel this is more of a problem with today's society, and how the internet and TV has made us impatient for anything we can't get in the shortest amount of time. Why read books when you can get a synopsis off Wikipedia? Why go see some long movie when we can watch these 23 minutes of Family Guy? This is why Once Upon a Time in America failed, and this is a major problem in our society. 5. The Movie Fails to Show What the World Became and has Aged Poorly Are you really going to list a reason for this film not being the greatest is because reality failed to go along this pace of space exploration? That's like me faulting Star Wars for no presence of an advanced society that flourished long ago in a galaxy far, far away. You can show a child The Godfather, Seven Samurai, Gladiator, or even Blade Runner and they will find those movies boring, but they would be quick to call Fred: the Movie or Lion King one of the greatest. You can't say that a movie isn't great based on its track record with children. 6. The Movie Lacks a Compelling Message I think this is relative to the viewer. You didn't get anything from the movie, but I got that it was an allegory to Nietzsche's Thus Sprach Zarathustra. Others might find Illuminati theories. Someone might even say the film's message is about how LSD and Space Camp don't go to well together. C. Other Films More Deserving Metropolis (1927) I'll just let H. G. Wells answer this one. . http://erkelzaar.tsudao.com... Blade Runner Blade Runner has more action than 2001 and has a traditional narrative. There are so many different versions of this film which one are you talking about? Avatar This point has been brought up every time someone mentions Avatar, but there is no denying that Avatar is Dances with Wolves in Space. James Cameron pulled a Lucas. He took an already existing film or serial, put it in space, and made billions from it. Star Wars Original Trilogy The same thing with Avatar except he used The Flash Gordon serials and Star Wars is just another rehashing of the monomyth. George Lucas has never been great at dialogue and it shows. Plus Return of the Jedi. Thank you for reading my argument, and I wait for my opponent's response. Pros before Cons.