I am that I am!

Rating: 9/10 (24 March 2007)

2001 is one of the odder films ever made. You could call it a stone plate-Nietzsche-waltz-obsession. If you are willing to dive into such a thing, then please, go ahead! The Blue Danube serves as a vehicle to let you feel both the loss of orientation in space and the loss of orientation in culture, in the sense that what we call culture is already the product of a disorientation, a sophisticated play that betrays our elementary nature. I AM! ALL THIS IS MINE! The introduction brings this point about pretty concisely, and most people will certainly imagine the becoming of man along the lines of the depiction here. It's a dark fantasy, "the you is older than the I" said Zarathustra, um, Nietzsche, and in this spirit, that with self obsession came power, 2001 establishes the role of consciousness.
The ultimate cause for this turn stays a mystery, an unknown by principle, an act of God, like the handing over of the ten commandments, at least in Kubrick's vision. It's a consistent and effective vision. But it's not much of a basis to create a film upon. The repetition of the birth of consciousness in the space ship's computer was worth showing, but after that point the film simply runs out of substance. The rest is just common half-sense, a disappointment after the start.
If you're willing to let the film simply work on you, in a purely poetical way, then it's definitely worth watching. Otherwise it is to be shunned, since it would bore you to death!