Magnificent self indulgence

Rating: 9/10 (8 June 2014)

Stanley Kubrick's slow go science fiction piece demands patience from its audience as he bombards it with endless visual and audio extravagance at a sometimes snail pace that challenges one's concentration and endurance. It is a film experience to be survived with an outcome that will either dazzle you or bore you to tears.
Something or someone is dropping large domino shaped monoliths about the galaxy. They seem to exude a superior intelligence bent on spreading the wealth where it takes on Earth enabling evolving mankind to kill and conquer through weaponry. When another monolith is discovered far into the future on the moon, Earth sends an expeditionary team comprised of five humans and one sharp self confident computer, Hal 9000 to inspect and follow the trail to Jupiter to get the lowdown. Dissension breaks out on the ship however and the mission is jeopardized.
2001 is a visually stunning experience to behold on the big screen. It asks a lot of its audience and caught in the right frame of mind a cinematic experience of the first order. Ultimately it comes down to whether your mood is in alignment with Kubrick's tedious at times self indulgent floating rhythm. For nearly the first half hour there is no dialog for the remarkable opening transition from the dawn of man to present day space travel. Accompanied by a spot on music score (Strauss, Khachakurian) you are carried through space in a graceful and awe inspiring fashion both inside and outside the ship. The suspense ramps up when Hal goes rogue but even at this juncture Kubrick maintains his deliberate turgid pace that for some may ask too much. The visual fireworks really explode in the final segment partnered with an auditory assault that is to be endured rather than passively enjoyed as the last surviving astronaut roars toward Jupiter.
2001 is a milestone in sci fi cinema; the halfway point between Melies Trip to the Moon from the 19th century and the ease at which advanced technology in this day and age can achieve creating similar terrain. Kubrick's use of sound and score to accompany his odd angled flowing visuals is indeed as mind blowing an experience one might have in 20th century film but his pace is painstakingly slow at times and you may find yourself wanting to abandon ship. Since it's opening decades back I have made half a dozen attempts to stay the course with this beast of a movie and finished it three times, twice with disappointment results. The one other time I completed it I walked out truly blown away. It is the one that remains with me and it is a very rewarding experience informing perhaps that the fault is in ourselves not the star, Stanley Kubrick.