Throw rotten eggs gently, please.

Rating: 4/10 (14 May 2001)

I know I'm bound to get panned for this review, but I'm going to do it anyway. Not since I decided to prepare for an upcoming semester by watching a College Algebra telecourse have I spent so much time staring at my television in utter bewilderment. Spectacular visuals, stunning sets and locations, and perhaps the best movie soundtrack ever, but the story itself is almost lost in the process. Entire plot could have been adequately covered in about 25 minutes. LOOOOOOONG sequences with no dialogue make it hard to follow the storyline. Beginning with a pre-historic version of "West Side Story", and concluding with a "What the heck was that all about?" dream (?) sequence, I have no idea what Kubrick was trying to say at the end. Worth seeing just to know that this type of filmwork could be done in 1968, it is truly amazing what they accomplished without modern computers. Pity their predictions of the year 2001 were not more accurate in some respects (Video phones are commonplace, a base on the Moon, Jupiter having a solid surface, the survival of Pan-Am, etc.).