Unbelievable...

Rating: Null/10 (14 September 2004)

I'm totally mystified. I've read comments like "boring", "waste of time", "no value", "brain dead", "ridiculously dumb", "not a beautiful FILM", "pretentious", etc, and can't believe these people saw the same movie? The ones that called it a masterpiece of groundbreaking cinema got it right. To the others, this movie is not supposed to be some juiced video game with mindless explosions, cartoonish characters, and souped up chases; it's a "real" film. The slow passages make you contemplate. The quiet scenes are designed to make you think, not put your conditioned mind on hold waiting for the next loud noise or flashing light. To the juvenile that can't stand silence or mood, you completely miss the point of movies like this. We're not the equivalent of gerbils running on a treadmill, are we? Some wouldn't know subtlety if the word hit them over the head. In lesser hands, of course, a movie like this "would" be considered drivel (case in point, see the sequel, utter rubbish). But not this one. On a wider note. How I long for stunning sci-fi. They haven't made a decent space movie since Aliens2, but for sheer scope and drama in the genre, nothing has topped 2001.