phenomenal, groundbreaking a masterpiece.

Rating: 10/10 (7 October 2015)

A culturally significant masterpiece of its time. 2001 A space odyssey is quite possibly the greatest science fiction film (and book) of all time. When people mention the notion of space travel in film this movie arguably one of the greatest of the 20th century always springs to mind. Just the ideas and themes presented in this film are truly ground-breaking. Before we had Gravity, interstellar, star wars, we had 2001, the film that started it all. From the dawn of time sequence where the film begins we soon witness one of the most awkward plot changes in cinematic history. Suddenly we are thrust into outer space, into the modern era witnessing a spacecraft descending into a space station and we soon witness a group of astronauts on a journey to the planet Jupiter. Kubrick's attention to detail and predictions of future technologies were simply spot on. The video phone in the space station, recognise that? It's what we now know as Skype. There doesn't have to be a lot of dialogue for one to understand the very notion of what is happening during the film in fact at least half an hour of the film there is no dialogue whatsoever. I wouldn't even consider there to be a lead actor in the film, in actual fact the central character in this film happens to be an artificial intelligent being known as the "HAL-9000", the central computer that helps the crew control their ship en route to Jupiter. 2001 A space Odyssey set the benchmark for idea of 'Man Vs Machine' and these ideas were later evident in future works such as Bladerunner and Bicentennial man. Also we must remember this film was released before the days of flashy CGI style special effects yet the way Kubrick gave you the sensation of being in outer space was just awe inspiring. Not to mention quite possibly one of the most spectacular uses of Strauss's music in cinematic history. This film does everything a science fiction film should. It also was the first film to get all of the science behind space travel accurate. So if you haven't already done so, do yourself a favour and watch this groundbreaking, phenomenal film.