More Exciting than Tarkovsky!

Rating: 10/10 (17 December 2018)

It is difficult to see clearly now (after decades of Star Wars and Star Trek on the more commercial side of space films) ) but this was a groundbreaking film, brave even in its most mystical scenes, deliberately (and hypnotically) tedious, with one certified great villain in HAL, easily the most human performance in the film. The "light show" in the middle is stunningly dull now, bereft as we are of the necessary mescaline, 2000 light years from Woodstock, and stuck in the checkout line. But this is a bearable indulgence. Like so many Kubrick films (apart from "Strangelove") this demands a more-than-average forbearance, but, after seeing Tarkovsky, this becomes less severe in comparison. An aesthetic triumph which continues to generate discussions over its philosophical statements.