Beautiful film - great plot but...WTF?

Rating: 6/10 (25 January 2005)

I had heard about 2001 practically my whole life of 33 years before I actually got to see it. The anticipation for this film was fantastic on my part. I simply could not wait to see what Kubrick had cooked up; my brother - the family sci-fi expert - wouldn't part with any details.
So I sat down and watched this movie in complete silence and isolation - wanting not to be bothered and to focus completely on the film and every aspect of the "Kubrick Masterpiece".
Half-way through the film, I was thinking to myself, "This is one really great movie!" I could sense Hal going nutty by this time and got chill bumps...oooh what would come next? Three-fourths through the film, I'm sitting there with a ruffled brow and a scrunchy nose, wondering if this is Kubrick directing or Fellini.
When the film was over, I was MAD. So mad that I said I'd never watch the movie again. What kind of ending is that? The feeling I had is the feeling you get when you invest time and money in a girl that you have deep affections for and instead of returning those affections, in one way or another, she simply tells you that she loves you like a brother. I was hurt by the ending, literally. How in the name of all that is classic cinema can this movie end the way it did? I'll never understand why. And I will never understand the meaning of it - ever. It's simply not fair to end what truly is a beautiful - and to some extent - great movie this way.
Whatever the meaning is at the end - and I tend to agree with some that it has something to do with the whole evolution cycle of ape to man to computer to - "whatever it was in the green room that supposed to represent whatever"...agrgh! Just reliving the ending - which I have not seen in some 7 years still makes me very angry.
It is such a beautiful film, though. One should see it. It will always be remembered. And I fear, most will be confused and angry afterwards.