"I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that." - H.A.L.

Rating: 9/10 (19 July 2005)

# 1 Best Film of 1968
It's been thirty-seven years, but whenever I hear 'Also Sprach Zarathustra' by Richard Strauss playing on the radio, in a commercial, on television or in a movie, I always think of the illustrious motion picture, '2001: A Space Odyssey'. It was a film surrounding space travel and life in space in the future by one of the world's most celebrated filmmakers, Stanley Kubrick. '2001' was Stanley Kubrick's first big-budget film, his most memorable film and many film critics and movie buffs alike agree it's his most genius work. Part of the reason why '2001' was such a hit was because of the amazing special effects (for the time - it was 1968) and the haunting and brooding classical music score that blended perfectly into the peace and quiet of outer space. While wowing audiences with its spectacular visual effects, '2001' also challenged their intelligence and view on human life with deep philosophical ideas and messages lodged deep inside science-fiction picture. People have praised '2001: A Space Odyssey' as being the crowning work of an extraordinarily gifted filmmaker ahead of his time, and other have panned it as being jumbled, frustrating, deliberately confusing and very undeserving of it's praise. I have finally witnessed one of cinema's most talked about and debated over epics, and I can assure you it's not only an excellent movie, it's one of the best made motion pictures of all time, thanks entirely to the very meticulous and conscientious vision of Stanley Kubrick, the finest film director to ever grace the world.
'2001: A Space Odyssey' is set in the beautiful and peaceful confides of outer space, where humans (mostly doctors and scientists) do astrological research from expansive spacecrafts. A lot of what we have today (and what we had when the book '2001' is based upon was written) has now been replaced with artificial intelligence (robots) in Stanley Kubrick's invisionment of what the year 2001 would look like, taken of course from Arthur Clarke's groundbreaking and controversial novel. The story surrounds two doctors on a mission up in space, Dr. Dave Bowman (Keir Dullea) and Dr. Frank Poole (Gary Lockwood). Their mission is leads them to the moon, to find an artificial relic, which can lead to the discovery to a new and mysterious life form. The two are helped by H.A.L., the creepy-voiced computer of the spacecraft, who develops a mind of it's own and eventually turns on them. H.A.L. turns on the two astronauts when he (it, really) refuses to save them in fear it will jeopardize their mission. The film becomes a sort-of survival story after that for Dave (Frank dies, when he is failed to be saved by H.A.L.) which eventually leads him to what the mission is looking for, taking him on a five minute journey filled with vibrant and e colors and graphics through the depths of outer space, eventually resulting in Dave seeing himself aging and eventually dying, and being re-born as a extra-terrestrial.
2001's ending may be one of the most talked about, debated and argued about film endings of all time. There is no solid explanation for it, and Mr. Kubrick (as well as author Arthur Clarke) leave it up to you (the viewer) to figure out. I personally found the ending to be extremely frustrating and mind-numbing the first time I saw it. I just couldn't grasp it, until about four days later I began to deeply admire it. In my opinion, '2001' is very anti-technology (hinting it will one day destroy us), but offers hope for us in the future. Stanley Kubrick provides the absolute best direction of his career with '2001: A Space Odyssey' that it is nothing short of appalling he didn't receive the Oscar for 'Best Director'. Without Kubrick, there couldn't have been a movie of '2001', period. Only his rich, elaborate, sophisticated and undeniably gorgeous could make '2001' what it is then and today. In other words, if any other filmmaker was to touch it, the project would crash and burn. Kubrick fills the movie with aching beauty ever second of the runtime, not only with the direction but the screenplay he co-wrote with the famous novel's author, Arthur C. Clarke. The acting in '2001' is really nothing special, but it doesn't have to be because the last thing '2001' is about is the performances. Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester, Leonard Rossiter and Douglas Rain (who provides the chilling voice of the vengeful computer, H.A.L.) are all decent, but nothing really memorable (well, just Douglas Rain's voice). The film suffers by being a tad overlong, and it's also very slow moving in the beginning, but I forgive it for that. The film's cinematography, visual effects, musical score, set decoration, screenplay and sound were all Academy Award worthy, and in my opinion '2001' should have taken home the Oscar for 'Best Motion Picture of the Year', but it wasn't even nominated. If that doesn't prove to you how short-sighted and ignorant the Academy voters are, I don't know what will!
In conclusion, I don't even recommend '2001'. I plead, no I demand, you dash to your local videostore and rent a copy. You may enjoy it, you may not, but you will definitely be thinking about it the next morning and it will for sure enlighten you. '2001' isn't as much of a film as it is a landmark in cinema. '2001' set the bar for many extraordinary motion pictures to come, and I'll say it again, none of it would be possible without the genius of Mr. Stanley Kubrick. If you've already seen it, I recommend you buy it on DVD, along with Kubrick's other films in his DVD Collection including his work from 1962 to 1999. '2001' may bore you a little, but when it's all over it will give you a slightly different view on things. Grade: A-
MADE MY TOP 300 LIST AT #85