A film students view on a classic film

Rating: Null/10 (28 May 2001)

This film is open to two view points, one view is that it is possibly the best film ever made. The other is perhaps the antithesis to this and that the film is a huge stinking pile of garbage. I have a slight problem with the latter.
The usual argument when saying that this film is pants is that it is dated and it is too slow and boring. This basic teleological response to a vast and complicated film is understandable to a point. But to criticise the film by todays standards would not only be an injustice to the film but unfair to director Stanley Kubrick whose intent was not to create an accurate view of the future (It is science fiction after all).
How can Kubrick be judged by todays standard of special effects. I'm sure if he was alive today he would consider perhaps even remaking the film with newer technology. He was only using the best available at the time.
As for the film being boring I'm pretty sure that Kubrick knew it was going to be like this as he wasn't a stupid man. He was a known perfectionist and that is why he had such a hard and demanding reputation as a director. These long drawn out sequences were perhaps a way of showing the loneliness of space.
The music is another common point of ridicule in this film. The only reason why audiences would cringe nowadays is because these sequences have been pastiched and parodied beyond belief. It is hard to see now the original effect unless you were there the first time around in 68.
Overall I think that this is a remarkable film that deserves a little patience. Perhaps not the best film ever made but given the time it was released it is amazing (Before man had even landed on the moon!). This film deserves credit even if it is maybe a little flabby around the edges.