Need the right mind set

Rating: 6/10 (11 September 2013)

First let me introduce myself, I am a 21 year old boy from the UK. I have very mixed reviews about this film, and am sure I am not the only one. I do not believe this to be a marmite film as most of the reviews suggest. I can and do see this from the point of view of both parties, seeing it as a boring waste of time and seeing it as sci-fi/cinematic history.
I do agree, the story line is very scarce. There isn't that much happens, and when it does it is over before you even realise its begun. There is a lot of slow, boring and un-necessarily long clips of pretty much nothing; ships/people floating around, someone running, a phone call, a conversation that offers very little to the plot. I am not a troglodyte as some of the lovers of this film may be starting to think. I understand why it is included and done the way it is, but that doesn't stop it from being incredibly boring.
However, to see this from a positive point of view, one must remember that this was made in the mid-to-late 1960's. Meaning that everything done in this was done for real, rather than CGI as everything is now. For this reason I don't feel that it can be put in the same class as modern sci-fi films.
I sadly have not read the book of this, I have just decided to watch the film because my friend likes to quote it to me and I wanted to see what she was going on about. This left me very skeptical when I started watching, especially as seemingly nothing was actually happening. You really do have to keep watching and thinking about what it is actually depicting. A large amount of the themes and science fiction ideas were depicted on screen for the first time in this film and is therefore giving a visual insight into what mankind has predicted the future will be like and it is remarkable how much they have actually gotten right for what we have already accomplished and what we are still working on. A lot of the ideas in this film are still being copied to this day, and has now actually got me questioning Ridley Scott's work. I am not saying that Scott has copied Kubrick, just that some of the praises Scott has received shouldn't really be given solely to him for his work in the sci-fi genre. Kubrick has managed to show to the world the realism of space. We all watch films these days and like to point out, "that couldn't happen", "that would never happen", etc. etc. That is the reason behind all the slow and uneventful scenes, it is being kept to a realistic standard of how it would actually have to happen and to show you how slow a long space trip like that would actually be. The shots of space exploration also show demonstrations of the physical properties of our universe and how things actually happen.
So, to conclude. Although this may not be an exciting, eventful or thrilling film, it is certainly a feat of cinematography. It more depicts the realistic side of sci-fi rather than the laser guns and phasers of popular sci-fi shows. So if you are looking for a fast paced, action sci-fi, then this isn't for you. If you more enjoy the technological/engineering side of themes like this, then it is right up your street. Just bare this in mind, be in the right mind set when you sit down to watch it!