Amazing visuals with little substance

Rating: 4/10 (25 February 2010)

I finally got around to watching this movie last night. Actually it's the second time I had tried to watch it, but the first time I actually finished it. And I have no desire to ever see it again.
I do have to say that 2001 has amazing visuals. The space scenes of all sorts are simply stunning and hold up quite well even today. There was obviously a lot of effort put into them. Definitely the highlight of the movie.
The effects are also amazingly realistic. The scene where Dave has to blow the hatch on his pod and momentarily be exposed to space is realistic in a way I've never seen in any other movie. First off, there is no sound of an explosion or anything else, which makes perfect sense since there is no sound in a vacuum. He also doesn't explode or be severely injured, unlike every other movie set in space.
2001 is a ponderously slow film. But that's not my main problem with it, though. I can watch slow films so long as I have a reason to keep watching; as in an investment in the characters. There is a severe lack of character development and none of the characters, even the infamous HAL, are shown long enough or in a way that allows me to have any sort of attachment to them. The only character that got any development at all was mankind itself in the first part of the movie, and I can hardly sympathize with a primitive, brutal character as portrayed there. The individuals later in the movie were shown as being largely expendable, with no real reason to be anything but indifferent about their fate. HAL itself was the only character I had any shred of sympathy for, ironically showing himself to be more human than the crew members aboard the ship. Yet I was still largely indifferent when he was disconnected. Yes, "indifference" is a word that describes my attitude towards pretty much all the characters in this movie.
Because of my indifference to the characters I had no reason to really ponder what the story was beyond what was shown on screen. I did not care what the purpose of the monoliths were since they affected characters I did have any investment in.
As a visual feast this movie fares quite well. As a means for telling a story, it falls flat. A story needs characters and that's what 2001 sorely lacks.