Let Me Explain Why I Gave It Half Marks

Rating: 5/10 (25 July 2005)

2001 is a movie that stirs up polemical opinions . You almost certainly love it or hate with no one having an opinion that falls into the middle ground . Ironically enough I gave it 5/10 which indicates I thought this movie is average . I didn't think it was an average movie - I thought it was a pile of pretentious pseudo intellectual garbage and a cinematic update of the parable about the Emporers New Clothes
What is there to enjoy about this movie narrative wise ? The first half hour is taken up with men in gorilla suits jumping around a studio exterior throwing bones about , a sort of chimps tea party on tranquilizers while the last half hour is taken up with a man pulling funny faces inside a psychedelic disco . Neither of these segments features dialogue so this is a movie that is impossible to follow story wise . And before anyone sends me a message to explain what 2001 is about let me tell you I'm not interested , and besides you're probably only kidding yourself if you think it's about anything . It's something to stare at after you've inhaled a joint , that's what its function is - Eye candy for the stoned
Technically the movie deserves much credit since the cinematography is rather impressive as are all the aspects involving sound: mix , editing etc . The voice of HAL is very haunting and memorable and remained in this reviewer's head long after seeing 2001 and contributed to me not giving the movie a much lower mark . But it's still a movie that has a reputation that it doesn't deserve and is long , dull , pretentious and most of all unentertaining
Five out of ten