as beautiful and boring as an actual space flight

Rating: 5/10 (6 July 2005)

2001 opens with perhaps the most impressive title sequence ever filmed. Notably, only one person is credited at the opening -- you guessed it, Stanley Kubrick. The use of Thus Spoke Zarathustra is brilliant and really impressive -- one of the iconic moments in film history. No one will ever forget that sequence.
Then comes the Dawn of Man. The apes were clearly mimes in costume. Still, Kubrick and his crew did an excellent job of somehow back- or front- projecting the African vistas into these scenes. The God-like intervention of the monolith in human evolution is the entire concept of the story, and I found it most effective in this opening sequence. The use of Ligeti's musique concrete is very effective here.
Then comes the space travel to the orbiting station and the moon. This is a little slow, but the effects here were very beautifully done. I love the shot where you see the shuttle "falling" through the void of space toward the station. I don't believe these effects have ever been improved upon -- or ever will be.
I must say, though, that I find it very irritating when filmmakers greatly overestimate the amount of technological advancement that will occur in the near future. It was obvious to anyone in 1968 that almost none of what is presented in this film was going to exist in 2001, much less in 2101. Massive orbiting space stations, huge moon bases, commercial space travel? Come on. Similarly, LA will not have 500-story skyscrapers and flying police vehicles in 2019 (Blade Runner), nor will we have cars driving on vertical highways in 2054 (Minority Report). These ridiculous predictions are even more irritating in the so-called "hard" science fiction movies like 2001, where Kubrick so obviously and pompously believed he was being scientifically accurate to the last detail.
The character of Dr. Floyd (and his fellow scientists on the moon) is almost unbelievably dull and uninteresting (while seeming smug at the same time). Still, there is some real mystery and suspense as they investigate the monolith on the moon.
Then we cut to the Discovery mission to Jupiter. The centrifuge is possibly the most remarkable set ever used in a film, and Kubrick filmed it remarkably. The background on the mission is conveyed in the most pedestrian way possible -- the astronauts listen to an interview they gave to the BBC. Then, suddenly a story that, while slow, has been focused on an interesting subject (discovering the purpose and meanings of the monoliths) gets hijacked by an incredibly tedious and drawn-out conflict between the astronauts and HAL the computer. Basically, HAL the supposedly perfect computer malfunctions and becomes homicidal for no conceivable reason and the two astronauts act incredibly slowly, moronically, and emotionlessly to try to stop him. The space walk/pod sequences are so ludicrously drawn out (and totally lacking in the visual beauty of many of the earlier effects sequences) that I had to fast forward through them. Hal locks Dave out of the ship, but he manages to get back in pretty easily (and why exactly did he not put his helmet on before going out in the pod in the first place?) This extreme detour into the HAL conflict (which I realize many people find the ONLY interesting part of the movie) kills most of the suspense and interest. Then comes the absurd Stargate sequence, the only effects in the movie that are really dated. The "slitscan" stuff looks like your average screensaver, and the rest is obviously landscapes from the Southwestern U.S. exposed with extreme purple and orange tints. The transformation of Dave into some mammoth, space-traveling fetus at the end is perhaps the most unintentionally funny thing I have ever seen in a movie.
This is the only movie that Kubrick ever made that was not based on a previously published novel. Arthur C. Clarke's brief, almost plot less short story "The Sentinel" was the basis for this movie, and clearly not enough effort was made to develop the script here into more than a mere concept.
George Lucas's first movie, THX 1138 (1971), was a similarly plot less, atmospheric sci-fi movie based on little more than a concept. After the failure of THX, Lucas set out to tell a warm, human story, and succeeded wildly with the low-budget classic American Graffiti. Then he had the best idea in movie history -- to take the brilliant special effects Kubrick had pioneered with 2001 and use them as part of a human adventure story with suspense, humor, and action. The result was of course Star Wars (1977), a movie you didn't have to be lying in the aisle stoned out of your mind to enjoy.