2001: A Space Odyssey

Rating: 9/10 (19 March 2018)

Short and Simple Review by WubsTheFadger
First off, the film is a story of humanities evolution and is a philosophical work. Stanley Kubrick was reticent about offering up a definitive explanation for the movie and encouraged audiences to interpret it for themselves.
I would highly recommend watching an explanation video after finishing the film. I found one on YouTube by LondonCityGirl - Knowledge. She really helped me understand all of the symbolism and helped me fully understand the very complex story.
With all that said, I found the film very confusing. After the film ended, I was left perplexed at what I had just witnessed. The story is very complex and has many symbols. Symmetry, shapes, alignment, and time all play an important and sometimes subtle role in telling the story. I found the plot extremely interesting and the eeriness and surreal-ness of the film was great. The music choice is stunning. The music that plays when we see the monolith/sentential is creepy and eerie.
The acting is very good. Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, and William Sylvester all perform very well. Douglas Rain, who voices HAL 9000, performs the best in my eyes. His performance as HAL left chills running down my spine and he brought an almost humanlike aspect to HAL.
The pacing is very slow. There are a number of long scenes that are merely a black screen or a docking sequence. These can be tiresome. The runtime is also overlong. There is a lack of dialogue but the symbolism behind the heavy breathing and moments of pure silence are there for a reason.
The CGI is okay. I know this is an old film but it doesn't hold up to the standard that Star Wars created.
All in all, this film is a great work of fiction and is a defining movie when it comes to cinema.
Pros: Complex story, great use of symbolism, eerie music, good acting, Douglas Rain's performance as HAL 9000, and great directing by Stanley Kubrick
Cons: Slow pacing, an overlong runtime, okay CGI, the story is extremely complex because of the use of symbols, and the ending is very confusing
Overall Rating: 8.3
P.S. This film reminded me of Interstellar, they both have a similar ending. Interstellar is much easier to understand but I would still highly recommend this film to Sci-Fi fans