A sci-fi classic

Rating: 10/10 (7 December 2012)

Opening before humanity evolved from apes we see a group of apes as it clashes with another group; fighting with hands and teeth. Then one day one of the apes finds a strange black monolith; shortly afterwards it learns how to use objects as weapons a new stage in its evolution has begun. Jumping forward to the near future another monolith has been discovered on the Moon. This discovery leads to a mission to Jupiter; its six-strong team consists of Dave Bowman, Frank Poole, three scientists in stasis and HAL, the ship's computer. As they approach Jupiter it appears that HAL has made an error; something unheard of for such a machine; if the mission is to go ahead as planned it looks as if Dave and Frank will have to disconnect HAL; something HAL will not let them do without a struggle! Once that problem is past and the ship approaches Jupiter things get very strange indeed.
Love it or loathe it there is no denying that '2001' is one of the most significant science fiction films ever made. It might not feature exciting laser battles or strange alien creatures and its pace is distinctly slow but it is still a must see for fans of the genre. The effects are brilliant; the ships don't look like models and the apes do not look like people in costumes despite the fact that they are. Most films can usually be summed up in a few sentences but it is impossible to really do that here as I'm not one hundred percent certain what it is about despite having watched it a few times perhaps this is why it is such a great film; it leaves the audience to decide on a lot of matters without it seeming like a cop out. The cast of relatively unknown actors does a fine job; most notably Keir Dullea who plays Dave and Douglas Rain who provides the voice of HAL; making it one of Sci-fi's best known characters despite the fact that all we see of it is its glowing red 'eye'. Stanley Kubrick did a fine job bringing this far-reaching story to the screen; if you haven't seen it yet I'd certainly recommend checking it out; especially if you are a science fiction fan.