CINERAMA !

Rating: 10/10 (30 August 2002)

I have seen this film about a dozen times in my life. Each time I see something new that makes me appreciate the genius of everyone who participated in its making.
Most recently I had the thrilling experience of seeing "2001: A Space Odyssey" at the Uptown Theater in Washington DC - in full Cinerama. During the famous waltzing docking sequence, it was like being in space and seeing the space station with my own eyes. It literally made me vertiginous. The special effects in "2001" were created 34 years ago by craftsmen who filmed small physical models in a studio in England and actually made them look like gigantic objects in space. I will take that over lifeless CGI any day.
Being able to see the tiny details in every frame was the best part of viewing the Cinerama print. After the scene where a primitive man uses a bone to kill another human (the first murder with a weapon?), he tosses the bone into the air, and a magnificent jump cut turns the bone into a satellite floating above the Earth. Brilliant enough. But this time, I noticed that the satellite has the star symbol of Communist China. Other satellites are shown, each with its own national symbol. They're not just satellites - they're orbiting WEAPONS.
So basically, in the span of about 10 seconds of film, Kubrick has covered 3 million years of evolution. AND pointed out that we're still just animals trying to kill one another.
This movie is NOT boring.