A perfect-looking masterpiece of science fiction

Rating: 10/10 (18 May 2018)

This is hands down one of the most special movies I've ever seen. Despite the fact that the story is pretty good, what really makes it so outstanding comes to live in the cinematography, which is so good, there's so many beautiful shots, even in the beginning where there's no CGI. This movie looks top-notch amazing! Yhe sets are perfect, and I know it's sets, but it all looks like they're in real space ships, like they're actually in space, like they're in an actual savannah. Despite being released in 1968, this movie looks almost perfect and it's tied with another 1968 movie for the oldest movie I've ever seen, but despite all that, it looks gorgeous! The score is really great as well, the main theme is memorable andit seemed familiar and it tells us we're in for something extraordinary. I also like that they used classical music in the first half of the movie, it's so calming and the music in the second half of the movie, which I should call noises, make for a mystical vibe. The use of silence in later shots in outer space make those scenes even more gorgoes.
I have some flaws with this movie though. At first I thought that the antagonist is Hal, the dictator-like arrogant computer, but then I realized it's the off-screen aliens. I don't really like the face that we have off-screen antagonists. Also, I thought that the intermission was entirely pointless. And a minor flaw is that I would've liked to spend some more time with the chimpanzees in the opening sequence.
I'm a 100% certain that George Lucas and Irvin Kershner were heavily inspired by this movie. There's so many things in this movie that resemble "A New Hope" and "The Empire Strikes Back", especially visual elements, such as the outside of the ships, and I saw two or three similar shots in "Alien", too. Also, there's a shot on the lunar surface that resembles the shot in "Revenge of the Sith" right before we see Yoda medidating being interrupted by Bail Organa.
If someone else made this movie it would be like an hour long without all the elongated shots, but it would lose so much, it would hardly be special anymore.
I'll go watch the sequel immediately, I have sooo many questions, this movie leaves you thinking! I highly recommend it!