You might never look at your PC the same

Rating: 10/10 (5 May 2003)

Seriously. What can be said about this movie that hasn't been already? I shudder to think how any other director would've handled this project. Possibly the only other visionary who'd come close would be David Lynch. Nah, too radical. Tim Burton? Too sophomoric--that and he would've had too much fun with the monkeys. How about Stan (the Man) Kubrick? Possibly.
Kubrick does here what he probably has wanted to all his directing career. Create a purely visual experience without the annoyance of dialogue. He also proves himself a master of classical music (indeed, between this and 'A Clockwork Orange' he proves that he knows how notes and images can be the most powerful tools) without using the annoyance of contemporary music. Indeed, many of the spaces scenes seem like music videos for Beethoven, Mozart, and others.
Entertainment: You do not watch this for entertainment, plain and simple. This is a soul-searching journey that might leave you stuck by the wayside if you can't understand it. I will say this once and once only..."YOU ONLY GET OUT OF THE MOVIE HOW YOU REACT TO THE CHANGES, THIS ISN'T GOING TO SLAP YOU UPSIDE THE HEAD AND SAY 'THIS IS WHAT IT'S ABOUT!'"
If, after seeing this, you haven't had any kind of thoughts as to the purpose of humanity in this solar system, then you have missed the forest for the trees and the sky for the stars.
On the other foot: This is Sci-Fi in the purest form. There is no enslavement to other genres such as horror, suspense, or action. Just the purpose of the science fiction field and that, of course, is the future of humanity and how our actions affect it. I have said enough.