Best sci-fi film I have ever seen

Rating: Null/10 (25 August 1999)

2001: A Space Odyssey is the best sci-fi movie I have ever seen. From Strauss' "Thus Spake Zarathustra" to the HAL-9000 computer to Bowman's weird trip through the star gate, this film is perfect. It starts out at "The Dawn of Man", where we first get a glimpse of those apes that we developed from. We also get our first glimpse of the huge black slab known as the monolith. Well, as soon as the apes touch it, they became hunters and killers, something from which they weren't before. The monolith somehow gave them the knowledge to kill and hunt so they can evolve. Although these scenes are long (around 25 minutes), they are very well set up and keeps the viewer's attention, well, those who didn't fall asleep yet anyway. Fast forward 4 million years to 1999. A second monolith is found on the moon near the crater Tycho and a team led by Dr. Haywood Floyd (William Sylvester) sets out to investigate it. While they gather for pictures, an ear piercing sound emerged from the monolith heading straight for Jupiter. Forward a year and a half to 2001. The spaceship "Discovery", with it's commander David Bowman (Keir Dullea), co-pilot Frank Poole (Gary Lockwood), 3 hibernating scientists and central computer HAL-9000 (voiced by Douglas Rain) is on it's way to Jupiter on the orders of Dr. Floyd to find out what they can about the monolith and what is actually near there. Kubrick stretches out these scenes so much that we can actually be on the Discovery and feel for the 2 commanders as the boredom eventually sets in. Dave draws pictures of the hibernating scientists, Frank plays chess and relaxes, the sleep, eat, run parts of the ship and talk to HAL, that is about all they can do considering that HAL runs mostly all of the ship's systems. After Dave and Frank notice the "mistake" HAL makes, things start to kick in. The decide to disconnect him but HAL strikes back, killing Frank outside the ship by disconnecting his air supply, and then shutting off the life support systems of the 3 hibernating scientists while Dave sets off to rescue Frank (who is already dead). Then, to make matters worse, HAL won't let Dave in the ship! Dave, after some quick thinking, finally gets in the ship and disconnects HAL. Now, after this, we are treated to the stunning "star gate" sequence, where Dave goes to investigate giant, floating monolith over Jupiter. I have to say, I think this is the scariest part of the film, seeing all of those colors and shapes and objects flying around, sends chills up my back. After that sequence, Dave ends up in a hotel room, visibly shaken from the encounter, where he grows old, older, on his deathbed and then, turned into a child, reborn so to say. This film leaves so many questions unanswered and that is what Kubrick wanted. I mean, what was the monolith? Who sent it? What REALLY happened to Dave Bowman? Why did HAL malfunction? These questions are meant to be answered in "2010" and they aren't, making the whole story seem more confusing. People who watch this film will either like it (because of the questions being presented and the philosophical meaning of it) or hate it (it's too slow, boring, dull and there is no dialogue), either way, this film ranks up there as Kubrick's best work and no matter how many times I watch this film, it amazes me more and more and more.