A sequence of brilliance that clocks in under an hour surrounded by garbage

Rating: 5/10 (3 June 2007)

I can understand why some love 2001 A Space Oddessy. It contains some of the best filmaking I've seen by Kubrick or any other director. It contains haunting and perfectly rendered sequences of science fiction beauty that is as great as any film called a masterpiece or anything done by Kubrick. Some may argue that it is the best work Kubrick has done. It's intense and captivating, and it's less than 1/3 of the running length. This is a structurally odd film. We are treated to a number of sequences that seem almost self-contained and then the film ends almost inexplicable with a scene of grace and beauty but only in a complete non-substantial sense. Basically, the majority of the film, which encapsulates on both ends the segment, is extremely pretty and amazingly conceived sequences of music and imagery without meaning or purpose that fail to captivate beyond their own visual and auditory beauty. There must have been some higher intention on the part of Kubrick and his writer here, but I think that it was just lazy filmaking on their part.
Anyone with a knack for photography and arrangement can do what they did. It's incorporating that with a compelling something that makes movie-making on par with that beauty, and they do that, in the one sequence, while the remainder is simply a waste. Rent the movie and watch the whole thing, because it is worth experiencing, but I bet that there'll be only one part that really felt worthy of its craft.