Good film, but still overrated

Rating: 5/10 (30 May 2019)

To be honest, after hearing this film come up in conversation so many times through my life, and especially considering science fiction is my favorite genre, I expected way more than what it actually is. It's a good film, and it was clearly meant more as art than to entertain. I'm perfectly fine with a movie which is a bit slow, or even goes a little wacky here and there, but when the first three minutes is a black screen, or a good 5 minutes with just a bunch of flashing graphics, that is a bit too far.
If you go into the movie without ever hearing about it, a good appreciation for space and science fiction, and the ability to skip through the literal tens of minutes of the movie that is either a black screen, or indiscernible images, then you may get some enjoyment out of it as I had.
If the fact that it was made in 68 throws you off, don't let it. The visuals have aged very well.
In short, unless you are willing to excuse the black screens and flashing images as "art", don't expect it to live up to it's reputation. Otherwise, it has decent concepts, and clearly was a massive impact on the entire genre for obvious reasons.