Classic Sci-Fi Movie

Rating: 8/10 (26 June 2016)

Will the people be able to travel in space? Will we be able to go on holiday to the Moon? Well, I don't know.
Let's go back in time to the times when apes ruled the world. One day they find a monolith. After discovering it, one of the apes 'invents' the first weapon. This is for sure one of the most important invention in our history. Without it, we must say, we won't be able to rule our planet. In next scenes we see apes battling against. We can see an element of fighting for valuable things - in this case, water. The apes who has got the new invention win, the others lose. The same as during wars. Countries with better army and weaponry win. This is a natural element of our civilization.
The action goes to nowadays. On the screen there are some big spaceships. Nice thing is, that in the background we can hear the classical music like Johann Strauss' waltz. Some time later we can see a group of scientists who find the monolith on the Moon. It is the same as in the first scenes of the film.
Then we see a space mission to the Jupiter. Supercomputer HAL-9000 flies with two astronauts, David and Frank. HAL is a computer with AI, so for example it can make its own decisions. When HAL feels threatened because the astronauts want to switch him down, it kills one of them. This shows us how dangerous AI programs can be. They behave like people and thus they also have their feelings. And, as in this case, they fight for themselves to survive when endangered.
Having presented the plot, let's talk about the technical aspect of the film. It is about 50 years old now and it still looks really good! The scenes with the apes and the ones on the board of the spaceship are very realistic. That is why the film got the Oscar for visual effects in 1969. The base on the Moon is also outstandingly shown. When I was watching the film, I was impressed by the fact that it was made in the 60s.
Now the music. For me, this is one of the most important elements of the movie. In my opinion the usage of classical music helps to show the vastness of the space. This musical theme has been used in many films later and it has been then associated with this movie.
"2001: A Space Odyssey" is a film with deep meaning. It is not a kind of movie with many plot twists. People who like action films, without offending anyone, perhaps will be disappointed. The movie makes us thinking about the beginning of our civilization or the AI programs. Maybe there was something what pushed us to later development? Maybe the computers with AI will be dangerous to some of us? We can ask ourselves some questions like these when we have seen this film. I do not want to write philosophical essays now, but "2001: A Space Odyssey" is a great material for them. Furthermore, we can spend some time thinking about the place of humans in the outer space. Our civilization is not as advanced to travel in time and discover the whole galaxy. Are we alone in the universe? Can we come into contact with other civilizations in the galaxy? Will we ever meet other civilization? What would happened if the AI program started to rule the world? I asked myself these questions after seeing the film.
In conclusion, 2001: A Space Odyssey" is for sure a must if you are keen on science-fiction movies. It is a classical film which has a very good technical aspect and a reflective story. It tells us about the possible problems of people in future or about our civilization. It has some elements for long essays which makes it unique in the science-fiction genre. If you are a fan of science-fiction films, you must watch it!
* - Artificial Intelligence