Beats all the sci-fi movie of our time

Rating: 10/10 (14 October 2006)

I currently take a film studies task and had to focus on a certain film. I chose 2001. In contrast to the sci-fi genre of our time, 2001 isn't a typical sci fi movie with nonstop violence, and gore and offensive language. In my opinion, it actually laid the foundations of movies like Blade Runner and Star Wars. It actually is a whole different experience to watch this movie. The overall film has a lulling effect to it. Starting from the beginning of the scenes in space where Kubrick uses 'The Blue Danube' as the score for that portion of the movie. Personally, when I watched it, my whole body just relaxed. There is no clear tension in the beginning of the movie. The tension clearly jumps out though when HAL kills Poole. The other unnerving thing I found was the voice of HAL as he responded to questions. His voice is so artificial, yet to cunning and calculating. What really astounded me was that he was watching the astronauts' lips as they plotted to shut him down in the sound proof space pod. He read their lips and clearly and knew what they were plotting to do. The sound is also very cleverly used in the movie. The cut between the silent of space when you can hear absolutely nothing, to the cuts inside the spacecraft that's filled with whirls and blips of the computer is absolutely amazing. 2001 is a work of art. Quite unlike, anything I have ever seen before. Requires a bit of patience to watch...but when you watch the whole thing you feel fantastic. I actually came out feeling humbled after watching this movie.