Never been equalled.

Rating: 10/10 (28 November 2001)

Back in 1968, filmmaker Stanley Kubrick and futurist Arthur C. Clarke elevated science fiction film to such an impossibly lofty plane of intellect and technical brilliance that it has never even been approached. Love it or hate it, there's no question that with this film, Kubrick achieved precisely the results he and Clarke intended. By eschewing conventional norms of structure, narrative, and character, this epic engages the mind and senses like few cinematic efforts before or since.
For help in understanding the storyline, Clarke's novel (actually an adaptation of the script) is highly recommended. And it should be noted that even today, after STAR WARS and all its clones, and despite the current indundation of CG effects, 2001 remains the visual effects benchmark to which all others aspire. Space, for once, is portrayed with accuracy and blessed silence.