Mystery Science Theater 3000....

Rating: 1/10 (30 June 2006)

And I quote from the back of the DVD packaging: "....Kubrick brought complex ideas to the screen with astounding immediacy through dazzling special effects that won a much deserved Academy Award. Moving from the prehistoric birth of intelligence to the emergence of man as pure thought, "2001" is a remarkable achievement--'a quantum leap in quality over any sci-fi film ever made.'"
Let us pause for a moment to ponder some key points in that blurb. 1. "complex ideas...with astounding immediacy" - I have no doubt that Kubrick was a very intelligent man, and that in this film he strove to bring complex ideas to the screen. And I can safely say that this film qualifies as a movie, in that it consists of pictures that move. But to be described as "brought...to the screen with astounding immediacy," the said idea must be represented in some way that makes it either inescapable, urgent, or felt. I began this movie with an open mind, knowing that this is a movie of images, wanting always to ask myself why Kubrick chooses to show us the images he does. I finished the movie in the same state--I experienced no particularly strong emotional reaction to it besides utter confusion, and could fathom no answers to my repeated "Why?" 2. "dazzling special effects" - No question there. The effects for this movie were superior to those in Star Trek IV--a movie that was released 18 years later and had a greater budget and had the added benefit of the availability of the Industrial Light and Magic effects studio. 3. "to the emergence of man as pure thought" - Oh? So that's what that whole sequence at the end was about? The movie should have had the disclaimer: "This movie contains some images which may not be suitable for children, as they are realistic depictions of the experiences of an LSD user." The sad fact is that I could never have surmised from the images that the movie gave me that the movie's conclusion regarded man's ultimate destiny or "the emergence of man as pure thought."
Experiencing this movie is akin to being shown a series of ink blots and asked, "What do you see?" Perhaps my worldview is different from Kubrick's; I'm not sure. But I do know that I was not moved, intellectually or emotionally, to any profound contemplations. Or perhaps my mind is not so willing to see profundity in a parade of plot less, characterless scenarios and psychedelic imagery as so many minds seem to be. Maybe this film had a logic all its own that I missed; maybe I'm just someone who is moved to genuine emotion by genuine emotion. But to me this movie lacked any semblance of sequential logic, and was certainly without genuine human emotion.
In order to entertain myself during the movie, I began to guess aloud at what the images meant or were intended to provoke. This speculation, to my mind, bore a remarkable resemblance to Mystery Science Theater 3000. I will thus always remember "2001: A Space Odyssey" as the movie in which I said the words, "In space, nobody can hear you....fart."