Overrated and outdated

Rating: 1/10 (9 August 2014)

If this movie was aired as an episode of The Outer Limits series (without revealing its director's name) the only thing that would make it stand out would be THOSE TENS OF MINUTES OF POINTLESS VOID. As some have said already, even for me this was one of very few movies where I skipped minutes of a movie void.
The special effects used to take us into the space were probably stunning back in 1958. Today they are OK. Which is great achievement. But unless visuals are bad to the level that they are disturbing in my opinion they should not have much weight in rating.
The primates on the other hand were simply terrible. *ANIMALS SHOULD NOT BE PLAYED BY PEOPLE IN COSTUMES.* I do understand not much could be done in 1968 (even CGI Caesar in Planet of the apes is not 10/10), but I write review for viewers in 2014+.
Another issue I have with this movie is the technology predictions Kubric made here. A director should know this stuff never withstands the test of time. A truly great sci-fi focuses on gadgets as little as possible and rather spends the time/effort to tell the story (or build the atmosphere) instead.
In "2001" Kubrick spent minutes showcasing wannabe-futuristic devices, and the result is that in 2014 they look silly. This rookie mistake alone safely renders all the "10/10, best SF ever" reviews ridiculous and out-of-touch.
Given what I'm about to say about the message of this movie I can't decide myself whether torturing us for minutes with stuff like the blinking computer interface during the landing sequence was a mistake or a compensation for lack of something...
As for the "deeper meaning"...
You know the feeling when you are doubts about whether you are getting what the director was trying to say? Of course you have some ideas, but you keep dismissing them thinking "nah, that's too banal, there must be more to it"... And then you read what the excited people have to say about it, what people who claim to "understand the movie" think. And they happen to repeat what you dismissed earlier as being too banal.
There are many reviews calling us (those who don't like this movie) morons. One such review explained "the morons don't understand the monolith was a teacher, and then a beacon, a tool, a next phase...". Ummm okay, I say, so it IS actually that banal. Yet it takes 2.5 hours of your life.