quite beautiful for it's time

Rating: Null/10 (21 January 2000)

In 1968 I would have been enthralled by the visuals of this film. I still was, but to be honest I was bored with the sheer length of the silent space sequences. I understand the point of it, and the end sequence in the "hotel room" was creepy and pure Kubrick. Big ornate rooms, panning camera shots, slow pullbacks. I like that. And the whole theme of the film is cool... the question of the origin of man, the star-child, the bizarre black kiosk. The silence was interesting and useful in many parts. I can see why this is a classic film, but I guess being from the information generation I was a bit antsy when it came to the 15-minute long floating scenes. And the Dawn of Man sequence also seemed a bit too long. All in all, Kubrick is one of my favorite directors and even though this isn't my favorite film of his, I can certainly see why 2001 has been given the merit that it has.