A blur, but what an incredible experience!

Rating: 9/10 (7 February 2007)

The subject matter about aliens watching over us and the monolith being the threshold leading to each progressive stage of human evolution is something i am rather skeptical about. In fact, the entire theory did not occur to me as i was watching the film. What did was the intensely surreal and psychedelic nature of the story that transpired before me. Perhaps it was the novelty of it, the sheer audacity to make such a film, composed almost entirely of slow-moving camera footage of space and the vagaries of our universe, which no real story or conventional plot, and with cinematography that still gives me goosebumps. It seemed almost like a nightmare at times, with the space which unlike everything else, has no beginning or end. Its we humans, our imaginations, our need to theorise, to elucidate our external reality that confines us to mortality. Yes I do admit that at one point, i started to fall asleep, but once HAL was introduced, my interest in the film rekindled. Its certainly not something i am regularly exposed to and i enjoyed the novelty of this, though i cant say that i have understood the film's content well enough.
Of what i have fathomed, the film does present some intriguing questions: how has man evolved? Whats our next stage of evolution? Do machines have emotions? And if they do, does that mean they are capable of human sensations such as jealousy, apprehension and viciousness? Will they eventually rule us one day? The creation of HAL was wonderfully done. What is really ironic is that he, or it, shows more human emotions than any of the humans it interacts with on the space shuttle, suggesting that the dawn of a new era is perhaps not far away.
Whatever the issue, enjoy this film for the taste it leaves behind after you watch it, of something surreal and inexplicable. Forgot to mention the usage of classical music, which adds to the lurid quality of the whole experience. Try it!