Truly One of a Kind.

Rating: 10/10 (1 January 2011)

2001: A Space Odyssey is a very difficult film to summarize, but I will give it a shot. A mysterious monolith that dates back to the dawn of time is found on the moon and scientists are attempting to excavate and study its mysterious nature. Also, two astronauts headed to Jupiter must deal with Hal 9000, the artificial intelligence controlling their ship, which appears to be malfunctioning.
2001 is not only one of the greatest sci-fi films of all time but easily one of the most strange and original pieces of film art to ever grace the screen. Every facet of 2001: A Space Odyssey is so meticulously detailed and painstakingly filmed that it's truly a wonder to behold. And while its detail and realism are some of its highest commendations they are also 2001's biggest flaws. Stanley Kubrick crafts a sci-fi universe that is so realistic and believable that it is boring.
I believe that by making certain scenes go on for what can seem like an eternity he was attempting to make the entire concept of 2001 being a science fiction movie blaze' and unimportant. As if to say; "yeah it's science fiction so what, I've got an important story to tell." And what a story it is.
2001: A Space Odyssey deals with everything from god to artificial humanity with such subtly that it's very hard to even discern what any of it means during initial viewings. Everyone who watches this movie once and hates it should at least give it one more chance. Like most really great films the more you watch it the better it gets. Though many scenes can be tedious to watch more than once, 2001 has such a vast amount of subtext it is virtually a completely different film every time you watch it.
2001: A Space Odyssey is easily the most misunderstood and hard to love of all cinematic classics. It's easy to write it off as a self-indulgent piece of pseudo sci-fi nonsense, but it is truly so much more than that. It's not only the most realistic portrait of what our future may really look like but a meditation on where humanity has been and where it may be going. It's a spectacle unlike any other and a film that should not be missed.