Great expression of its era

Rating: Null/10 (11 May 2008)

"2001: A Space Odyssey" (again, 1968): Any reproduction of this film seen on a FLAT, small (non-theater) screen, and chopped to fit contemporary formats will NEVER give you an idea of the visual and aural effects received by a 1968 audience. They sat in rare and expensive theaters exclusively built for the phenomenal techniques of Cinemascope and Super Panavision. What this meant was a sitting in luxurious seating surrounded by a 180 degree screen that required three projectors running and blending 3 sections of the film into a seamless movie that literally wrapped around your head/field of vision, with sound to match. Add to that the exceptional length of "2001" (139 minutes, which was almost unheard of in 1968), special effects that truly changed the world of film making; the epic subject ("Man" from ape-beginnings to Celestial Being); the fact the audience was indeed anticipating our FIRST escape from Earth to ANOTHER PLANET (only a year away!); and presenting a metaphysical film to a typical American audience  and it being SUCCESSFUL!  and you have an idea how difficult this film is to watch without its context. None the less it's great sci-fi, a great expression of its era, has technological and script breakthroughs galore, asks MUCH of its audience  from patience to brain power, and gives you so many scenes you will NEVER forget, that to not see this film is to not see a clear picture of film history. Kubrick was not always this masterful (I am not a fan of his version of "Lolita"), but when he hit it, he hit it BIG.