Music and Space: A Odyssey

Rating: 7/10 (21 February 2015)

Martin Scorsese once said that certain great films need to be revisited at certain points in your life. A film you may have watched when you were 20 years old would give you a different feeling when you are 45 years of age.
Well I did watch 2001 when I was about 20 years old. I admired the film's technical achievement but the film outside its opening minutes featuring the ape like creatures left me cold. The latter part of the film being even dull, the psychedelia enjoyed only by people who had popped pills.
So after several decades I decided to heed Scorsese's advice and watched it on a high definition big widescreen TV for a more immersive experience. Again the technical achievements is outstanding and still dazzle, it leaves films like Gravity standing because nowadays these types of special effects is common with the technology available to filmmakers. Heck even my mobile phone probably has more computing power than that was available to NASA back in 1968.
This leaves the story itself with the monolith appearing in different stages of history pushing human evolution. When a monolith is discovered on the moon it leads to a manned mission to Jupiter to find another monolith. But HAL the advanced computer sabotages the mission wants to get to the monolith instead of the humans so computers can enter the next stage of evolution.
With the special effects on screen we have imaginative use of classical music to give us mood. It ranges from soothing to eerie such as when the monolith appears. Again as I get older I appreciate the music more.
The film still has problems though. Obviously back in 1968 with all the effort they put into creating the visuals you cannot blame Kubrick for those lengthy shots of the space station or space ship. It does lead to pacing issues and make you feel bored. Even Star Trek - The Motion Picture did the same thing when it was released a dozen years later with all the lengthy shots of the refurbished Enterprise. However the story still gets lost as the film gets lost with its dazzling effects as HAL has to be challenged and then the astronaut enters the monolith. You then see the astronaut as an old man and then is reborn as a baby.
I have no idea what it all means and maybe I am not supposed to know as its supposed to be all symbolism.