The Greatest Motion Picture of All Time

Rating: 10/10 (12 June 1999)

This is it. This is the best film of all time. (With The Godfather coming in at a distant second) The art direction, set design, sound quality, cinematography, and visually stunning special effects are all flawlessly perfect.
2001: A Space Odyssey, is nothing shy of a miraculous movie. It is the only film to explore certain areas that no other film director has even attempted. The main theme of this film explores the knowledge of mankind from the past 4 million years, and through certain symbolic objects in the film, such as the flying bone, the monolith, and the star child, which all display what man has discovered about his universe.
I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this film (even the credits), but the greatest parts were during the second half of this film, which involve the American spacecraft Discovery I, on its way to Jupiter to trace a signal made by this mysterious extra terrestrial monolith. Astronauts Keir Dullea, and Gary Lockwood, have it out with the HAL 9000 computer who controls the ship, when he has a mental breakdown. To this day I agree with the late Gene Siskel who said that HAL 9000 was the best villainous character in film history. Doug Rain's slow, calm, and monotonous voice make HAL the most intriguing character in this film. The scene where HAL refuses to let Keir Dullea re-enter the ship for fear of being shut down, is my favorite scene in film history, because it clearly shows the rivalry of computers and mankind.
It took several viewings of 2001 before I fully understood and appreciated this film, but for a movie this good it was well worth it. It is one of the few films I can watch 100 times and never ever get sick of it. I loved this film so much that I own the box set for it, and I'm amazed how well 2001 has stood up over time even after 30 years. There are only a few other films that I would consider to be on the same level as 2001, such as some of my other all time favorite films. (The Godfather, Star Wars, Amadeus Saving Private Ryan) just to name a few. But excellent as those films are they still can't compare to such a visual masterpiece like 2001.
After such a colossal amount of praise, I can't even go into the complex but extremely fastinating plot. If there was only one film that truly deserved a 5-star rating this would be it. It is a film that every person should see because this is the most unique film that has been created or will be created. A one of a kind must see masterpiece.