Watchable, again and again

Rating: Null/10 (13 December 2000)

In fact, to truly appreciate this film, that is exactly what you will have to do. The first time I saw it, I thought it was awful. There were many scenes that seemingly don't translate well to the small screen.
On subsequent viewings however, I began to appreciate the film more and more. It is really interesting. And although I say it is interesting, I can't say why. I suppose it's the extraordinary attention to detail, or the way it conveys so much with so little dialog. I'm not sure what! In fact, that's probably the reason I find it interesting.
One thing that I will point out is that if you do get a chance to see this movie, watch the letterboxed DVD. I was BLOWN AWAY. There are actually scenes that are distorted by the VHS copy, by reasons of the much lower picture quality but also the cropping of the image.
Case in point: The scene where we see Dave exercising inside Discovery there is a rather long shot of the "eye" on the HAL computer. On the VHS copy, it's a seemingly tedious shot with no reason for being there. However, on inspection of the DVD copy with the higher resolution picture, you can clearly see Dave jogging in the reflection on the lens. The purpose being to show how lonely Discovery is, and an erie sensation that "you're being watched."
It's almost impossible to notice this on rental VHS copies of this film... maybe because of degradation due to age, but the DVD was the first time of many viewings I noticed it.
I urge you to give it a second, third, etc. chance. This film deserves it.