A movie that is more than a movie

Rating: 9/10 (4 March 2010)

Chances are that if you are reading this you have already watched 2001: A Space Odyssey. I saw this movie in the theater for its 20yr anniversary, the film had been restored, the sound was modernized (for 1988) and 20min of footage was added back. Before that I had only seen it on PBS.
If you have not seen this movie, understand that Kubrick does not follow the same movie formula. Along with his wonderful use of lighting, camera positioning, colors and script modifications; Kubrick will also test your time patience and your tolerance for understanding.
So for those of you who have not seen this movie, rent the 148min version, watch it on a big beautiful TV and keep the remote handy. There will be portions where you will want to fast forward scenes at 2x or 4x. There is also a thing called a Intermission (for you youngsters this is for back in the day when the reels of film only fit a certain amount of time so they used 2 reels). You can use this time to make a sandwich or go the restroom. Here is a tidbit...Kubrick only has critical scenes when people are in them. Pause and FFWD at will if it keeps you watching, go ahead.
The theater had its die hard fans, who knew it was safe to go get popcorn or go to the bathroom at certain points. And it had some people with short-modern-attention spans who left the theater after 1 hour.
I loved this movie. In a non religious way, Kubrick shows you the evolution of man with god. And takes a good attempt at what death/afterlife might look like. But bear in mind this movie was made in 1968, so for its time these special effects were so outstanding you did not mind watching them for 10 or 20 extra minutes.
No it is not perfect, I wish some scenes were shorter, I wish there was more explanation about the moon monolith and I wish some scenes moved faster. But like any masterworks...you must accept the artist work as a whole, in other words take the good with the bad.
Worth Renting...if you like it...then Buy it.