A visual & technical phenomenon, but it's about as exciting as a party political broadcast

Rating: 2/10 (21 June 2015)

Out of the 16 films that Stanley Kubrick has directed this is the fifth one that I've seen and I can safely say that it's by far the worst of the bunch; it's hard to believe that this bloated bore of a film came from the same man that directed such great films as The Shining, A Clockwork Orange and Full Metal Jacket, but hang on folks I have my own theory...
Everyone comments on how this film is a ground breaking piece of science fiction and I must concede on those comments; 2001's visuals are astonishing, the special effects are mind-blowing and still hold up well today, the set designs are also authentic and impressive. This film has also paved the way for many other science fiction films. The problem with this film is that (aside from a very vague narrative about the evolution of mankind) there is very little else going for this film. It felt to me like Kubrick was more concerned with creating a 'Concorde' moment in the world of cinema rather than creating a film with an interesting story that will actually involve the audience. Yes it ticks all the 'technical' boxes, but there's no emotional involvement, there's no-one to care about and nothing to be interested in.
Normally, a score in a film is used to evoke fear, excitement, or tension but here the score is just used for the sake of it and is massively over-used. In fact, it got to the point where the score became more irritating than anything and there were long stretches when it was used at the expense of both character development and plot development.
The only mildly interesting part of this film was when the crew started to have problems with HAL, but this aspect of the plot was short-lived and the resolution to this aspect of the story was far too formulaic.
2001: A Space Odyssey really does seem to be a 'marmite' film whereby you either love it or you hate. As an average film viewer who doesn't claim to have any sort of pseudo-intelligence I've got to confess that I found the whole film boring and pretentious. Don't worry Stanley I forgive you..