2001: A Space Odyssey

Rating: 10/10 (14 September 2017)

This is my favourite film of all time, and in my opinion the best film of all time for two main reasons. 2001, for me, has the some of the best film making ever, and this film also has a point that is and will always be important and relevant. Where 'The Godfather' may tell you the importance of family, 2001 raises questions about evolution, mankind, artificial intelligence, the universe and the unknown.
Before I go on to give my thoughts on the film's meanings I'll list off all of the film's great technical aspects (which could be given a review of their own). The direction, cinematography, art & set production, special effects, sound effects, lighting, production value and music is absolutely outstanding, and some of the very best in cinema history.
I'll split this review up into 3 sections, much like the film, and start with the Dawn of Man sequence.
I think that going back in time, is ironically a perfect opening for a film based on the future. Kubrick displays how humankind began, by showing primates first discovering how to use tools (bones) in order to kill, before a clean edit which skips over hundreds of thousands of years of evolution and shows a spacecraft. This simple edit exemplifies how far humankind has come, from using bones to kill prey, to building spacecraft which orbit our Earth. It should go without saying, but this opening sequence is beautifully directed and shot, the only real nitpick is to say that at times the chimps may look dated, but for a film that came out in 1968, I'd say it holds up brilliantly.
The middle section of the film could stand as a film on its own, the Discovery spacecraft is on a mission to Jupiter. This is when we are introduced to HAL 9000, who has went on to become one of the most infamous film villains ever. This section of the film mainly concerns artificial intelligence, and just how accurate it can be, and if this dangerous. The film also concerns whether or not artificial intelligence can actually have real emotion, or just emulate it, I personally believe in the latter.
And then we get to the final section of the film, where thing go incredibly ambiguous, the stargate sequence is still mesmerizing even to this day. Dave Boeman, the astronaut on the Discovery, and the film's main character is transported to some kind of space hotel, or maybe this is all in his head? Or maybe he's in a higher state of being? Or maybe he's dead? Anyway, in this place, he sees himself grow old (literally) and meets with the mysterious monolith in which he transforms into the starchild, and the film ends. There have been of course, many, many interpretations of the film, people who may like science see this film as displaying how alone we are in the universe, the starchild represents mankind in it's infancy. To others, this film is a religious experience, neither is wrong, Stanley Kubrick and Athur C. Clark intended for this ambiguous end and for people to discuss it, which they definitely achieved.
In my opinion, the ending is both a representation of evolution, the starchild being the next step in evolution, the next goal for mankind (meeting extra-terrestrial beings for this first time, or exploring other planets and galaxies). But also the film's final few seconds for me represent how even though we have space travel, and have satellites in space and have gone to the moon, we as a species have only seen an incomprehensibly small portion of the universe.
So all in all, I love this film, its a masterpiece.