Still groovy after all these years

Rating: Null/10 (4 January 2003)

~Possible Plot Spoilers for the 3 People Who Haven't See or Heard Of this Movie~
Apemen discover tools and weapons...Dr. Heywood R. Floyd investigates the monolith on the moon...Astronaut 'Dave' Bowman, on a mission to Jupiter, is foiled by super-computer HAL, then goes on a trip that only serious drugs could match. What does it all mean?
One: an engrossing movie. Two: you WILL think about this universe we live in and your place in it, try as you might to veg out in space (which works too).
Director Stanley Kubrick's greatest film lays out a magical world for us, even though high-tech and magical are often mutually exclusive terms in film. We have all seen the "future" in various incarnations in sci-fi movies. This one presents a world which is (for me) tactile, astonishing and provokingly in-your-face entertainment.
I thoroughly enjoyed the leisurely pace as we discovered and explored 2001. Strauss waltzes booming gloriously as spacecraft ever-so-slowly connected with space stations only allowed me time to ponder how poetic and lyrical space and space travel is. I love the more-silent-than-death moments when the Frank and Dave go out into the space abyss on their repair missions.

Despite Keir Dullea's chin dimples, HAL is undoubtedly the star of the movie. Maybe I revere film conventions after all: an intriguing character strays, and must be outwitted. HAL's "death" scene must rank with the classics of all time. Extremely moving. Perfect entertainment. (Apropos to nothing: for those who haven't sought out the "2001" trivia, the letters in HAL are one move down from the letters in IBM.)
I have formed my own opinions of what this movie means. Something about how insignificant we are in the scheme of things. Or is it that our lives are of staggering importance? You decide.