Kubrick shows a surprising lack of timing and tension

Rating: 1/10 (11 July 2011)

I have read many reviews saying this movie is boring, but that's not what bugged me most about 2001. Boredom to one can be exciting to another, so let's not go into this very subjective matter and try to keep it a bit more objective.
What troubles me is that people think this is one of Kubrick's masterpieces. In my views however, it's doing a lot of things wrong a director can do. Let me explain: - Not even once, the (randomly selected?) music seems to have any connection to the images we're seeing. Surely the music is epic, but if anything, it's working against the build-up of timing and excitement.

Many scenes are stretched out through such enormous lengths, you lust lose interest in what's happening. That's not boredom, that just because you don't have to see someone perform the exact same agonizingly slow action ten times in a row. You get it after the first two or three times. And the computer talking three times slower than any human being doesn't help.

The movie is filled with extremely annoying sounds. I guess one could claim it makes you feel more like you're into the movie, and that it makes everything more realistic, but when you're changing volumes many times throughout the picture because you just can't stand the sounding alarm or heavy breathing anymore, it went too far.

There's more negative things I could talk about, but these are the reasons I would never want to see 2001 again. Stanley Kubrick made some great movies, but this one was definitely not worth producing for me.
Those who think greatly of this picture mostly do so because of the beautiful scenery and the very impressive 'special effects', and I can imagine that back when the movie was made, it was revolutionary. It's why I grade it a 2 instead of a 1. But to see a few marvelous shots of a savanna, spaceships and LSD-trips, you're better off at a search engine's pictures page.
2001: A Space Odyssey is a classic, and I can't blame you for viewing it. I just, personally, can't imagine anyone not being disappointed at the end.