Fantastic in 68 but not so in 2011

Rating: 6/10 (24 November 2011)

I've been going through many sci-fi movies in the past few years and I must say that this movie gave a lot of food for thought and context for all the sci-fi movies to follow. However if you are watching good sci-fi movies you may find this one quite on the low side. Firstly it is extremely slow and this movie could be done with in half the time...honestly at some point i had to move it fast forward not to fall asleep (some say it is the beauty of it...guys we live in a hectic pace our brains cannot tune in such a slow pace) Secondly graphics were absolutely magnificent for the time a real breakthrough to be honest... not so now though Plot: Now this is where it become so simplistic but credits to be given it prototyped in 68'
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The idea of a computer becoming a sentient being and try to control everything is a common theme in modern sci-fi and i think it all started with this move...however this becomes tiresome for those of us with sci-fi experience and maybe just maybe people in 68 did not understand what the monolith is all about and find the ending enigmatic... not at all... really not at all as it is nowadays so common as bread in sci-fi themes. The monolith represents a breakthrough in evolution and this is mentioned completely in the beginning of the movie where (man-apes) discover tools/weapons for the first time. The next big jump in evolution takes place with the second monolith - SIMPLE. He sees his body withering and ageing at an extreme pace only to be re-birthed as energy and may I add an extra-dimensional entity. Of course there are also somewhat hidden riddles to take into account. For example why HAL - a computer tries to take over and in the end destroyed? Although not obvious at first it is easy to decipher. It means our technology could be the end of us if we do not have a fail-safe mechanism to keep it in check. But also that machines cannot evolve faster than us. Yes they may get faster and calculate faster and predict outcomes more easily (as it was in the chess game) but in essence they lack our intuition, will and creativity that has developed in the human race through millions of years of evolution (experience). A consolidating factor that is... I give it a 6 out of respect for the era (if I watched it at 1968 I would probably give it a 10) but for 2011 it is not making it. So if you are wondering about the ending... well what can I say than to watch it again and open your mind to the impossible... This is after I watched only once and it was a fairly easy conclusion that Bowman has re-birthed as an entirely new entity which will define the next generation of "humanity" an extra-dimensional being of energy, who knows no past no future no present... Those notions have no value in a non-linear space-time.