A Film Ahead of Its Time

Rating: 10/10 (27 June 2011)

In my TV Productions class, my teacher showed my classmates and I "2001: A Space Odyssey". He advised us to pay attention to what is going on or we will be lost. So, I had my mind on every moment I've seen in the film.
Watching the film for the first time, the film blew me away with its art direction, musical score, visuals, atmosphere and groundbreaking special effects for its time.
The settings in the film are well-thought out and you really feel like you're in space due to its slow pace. Some people complained about the slow pace, but it's that way for a reason, and I just mentioned why. The spaceships and vehicles were very original at the time and seeing the technology and the way to navigate through the spaceships is just creative and groundbreaking.
The music and sound is one of the highlights of the film. A couple of times you will hear "Also Sprach Zarathustra" by Richard Strauss and "The Blue Danube" by Johann Strauss and each of them perfectly fits what is going on and how you're supposed to feel when listening to them.
I also like to point out its creepy and mysterious atmosphere. There are times where you are calm and there are also times when you feel like you want to know what's going on or what will happen. Watching it the first time, I felt that way.
Now for the special effects. Remember, this is 1968 and CGI wasn't invented yet. The crew members were able to pull it off well. Some say they are now outdated, but to me, they are still the most groundbreaking special effects I have seen.
Lastly, the story is what I want to talk about. If you go throughout the whole movie, you may not get it the first time. But watching it the second time, you may pick something up. From what I can gather, without going into spoilers, it deals with various themes like evolution and technology. It is a story that explains itself with minimal dialogue, so make sure to pay attention to what's going on.
The characters were great, most notably the three main characters on the Discovery One. But the character that steals the show is HAL-9000, a computer who claims that he has never made an error and can also mimic human emotion, all while speaking in monotone. He is very original that he influenced other fictional computers with a great AI, like GLaDOS from the video game series "Portal".
In conclusion, this is one of the most unique films I have seen. As my TV productions teacher told my classmates "Star Wars wouldn't be Star Wars if it weren't for this film", so it was definitely an influential film. I never heard of Stanley Kubrick until I saw this film, and I have to say he did a great job making an accurate and realistic science-fiction movie. I say give this movie a view if you don't complain how different it is from movies with brilliant plots.