The greatest film I have ever seen.

Rating: 10/10 (14 May 2005)

2001: A Space Odyssey is quite long at 2 hrs 30 mins or so, and it moves along very slowly. On top of this the plot is negligible, offering little in the way of explanations for anything and there is little continuity. The characters in the movie remain, for the most part, undeveloped and in general it is very easy to dismiss the whole film as being boring. In any other film the above flaws would make for a terrible, terrible film. But this isn't quite like any other film I've ever seen.
Visually, it is perfect. In fact, the film could easily be watched just as a series of stunning pictures: the planets aligning, the haunting image of the monolith, the space stations, the incredibly realistic apes, the drugged stream of colour at the climax of the film and the newborn baby the size of a planet which gives the film a brilliantly uplifting finale. Add to this some of the best chosen film music of all time (who would have thought that the Blue Danube waltz would be the perfect accompaniment to the image of a rotating space station) and all the sound effects, with whole scenes being accompanied by just the sound of breathing, and this is, quite simply, the best film I have ever seen.