Always Engaging

Rating: 10/10 (14 May 2005)

It was an intriguing experience, seeing this film when it first played my home city on a road show engagement.
I always regretted sitting in the balcony, rather on the main floor for this 70 mm.presentation. I could only imagine the effect audiences had viewing it in true Cinerama.
Kubrick made a film like none other, with a total of 88 non-dialog minutes, and exit music (of Strauss' "Blue Danube Waltz") that continues a good five minutes after the last credit roll.
Arthur C. Clarke's comment that if one fully understands everything in the film, he would consider his contribution a failure, reminded me of Director Vincent Minnelli's answer to a question about an effect in one of his films, "Yolanda and the Thief." A studio exec asked him what did the mysterious "dream apparition" that emerged from the lake mean. Minnelli responded that he had no idea.
Kubrick's choosing of the year, 2001, as a title because it represented the "beginning of the next century" proved less than prophetic: 2000 was the year celebrated worldwide for that event (though Kubrick was factually correct).
As for actor Kier Dullea, his trademark blank-stare style seemed to work most impressively in a very limited number of other films, mainly, "David and Lisa" and "The Fox." Still, he'll be forever remembered for "A Space Odyssey."
Ultimately, the film has won the plaudits of a majority of the public and critics. Those who either "don't get it," or "find it too slow moving" now seem to be in the minority, and the film has ultimately won a place among the "film greats."