Still packs a wallop!

Rating: 10/10 (8 July 2017)

Quite simply the best sci-fi film ever made. However, stand outside the theater when the audience is coming out. You'll hear people talking about how impressive the special effects were, what a mind- blowing experience the film is, but what was it all about? The clue is in the third chapter of John's Gospel when Jesus tells Nicodemus that "unless a man is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God." If you don't understand this, you won't understand the film, because the screenwriters apply this saying in both a literal and a figurative sense throughout the action. The context of the climax is entirely theological and it's because of the film's strong religious overtones even more than its brilliantly conceived vistas of man's technological horizons, that 2001 has acquired such a reputation and such a cult following.
The special effects, are not only marvelous, they are astounding. Not only do they stagger the imagination, they are absolutely perfect, technically. I could not spot a single flaw. And the technicians have even allowed for the distortion on both sides of the curved screen! The special effects in 2001 are easily the finest and the greatest achievement in special effects work in any film ever made.
Now, as to the story. It seems at first to be moving along the lines of "The Forbidden Planet" and its sequel "The Invisible Boy". Then it takes a page from one of Jack Finney's "Time" stories, and finally concludes with an image obviously borrowed from the fade-out of Cecil B. De Mille's "The King of Kings" and derived from the text: "Except a man be born again, he shall not enter the kingdom of heaven." It also is worth noting that the baby is not presented realistically but is akin to that depicted in such 15th century paintings as Lochner's "Adoration of the Child".
So far, all is straightforward. But when we come to ask ourselves why the director chose this rather peculiar method of exposition, we are on much less safe ground. Except for the business of the mysterious oblong, the film sticks very close to fact for most of its length. It has, for example, recently been discovered that life can survive in a vacuum for up to even two minutes. Also, it has been confidently suggested that the induced hibernation of humans for long periods is not only completely feasible but imminent. Even the ultra- intelligent computer is predicted to be a reality within the next 30 years.
All this might be assumed as fact-to-be. But when the space ship arrives at Jupiter, the film takes the plunge and definitely joins the ranks of the avant-garde both in theme and presentation. In an amazingly hypnotic sequence, the full impact of the Cinerama screen is used for the first time to assault the senses of the viewer. The mind reels under the impact of the speed of coruscating flashes of multi-hued light.
Technically, the film cannot be faulted. The art direction and photography are superb, the direction is consistently inventive, and the actors come across well. Even the use of canned music is nothing short of inspired â€” with space stations free-wheeling to the accompaniment of "The Blue Danube" and a heavenly chorus singing "Thus Spake Zarathustra".
Although there have been many science-fiction films in the past, this, I believe, is the first time a film-maker has tried to project the future scientifically. Of course, there have been films like 1984 and First Men on the Moon, but they are obvious fantasies. No, this film had its genesis back in 1938 in an exhibition at the New York World's Fair in which, by the use of models, the great Norman Bel Geddes projected his own amazingly accurate vision of a Future that has now come to pass.