An Epic Film Too Ambitious for its Own Good.

Rating: 7/10 (29 April 2008)

"2001: A Space Odyssey" is set in the year 2001 and the main character is HAL. HAL is a computer. That's right, a computer who talks and thinks entirely on its own. This was made in 1968 and to think by 2001 it would be conceivable that computers would talk is a joke. If this was in 3064 a talking computer that had emotions and made its own decisions would be considered just as moronic as this. There is nothing in this film that provokes any kind of emotion. It provokes two reactions and one is called sleep. The film starts with nothing but a pitch black screen for well over two minutes. Then, the first shot we see that has some kind of lighting is "The Dawn of Man" sequence. So, if it's in chronological order, the blackness prior to this, is the birth of the world?
During "The Dawn of Man" sequence, out of no where, a huge rectangular block comes from out of the ground, from the sky, we'll never know where it comes from, but for one reason or another it's there. The monkeys go apesh!t once they find this huge rectangular block that only man could have made, but that's the catch man hasn't evolved yet. So, who made it and where did it come from? What is its purpose? The monkeys find a tool. The monkeys use bones to fight an opposing group of monkeys. The monkeys with the weapons are now the dominating group. Why? Because they have used their mind to gain an advantage. The more advanced monkeys, and more importantly, smarter and more innovative monkeys, are the dominate group as they have taken over the watering hole.
We quickly jump into space, millions of years later, where we see a bunch of spaceships floating around to classical music. We can see the earth, the moon, the sun, the universe. And for a film made in 1968 the visual effects are stunning. The score is legendary. The cinematography is spectacular. The editing is, however, atrocious. There are countless shots of boxy looking space ships floating in outer space for, what feels like, an infinite amount of time. Once we board the ship there isn't much to talk about. For the next hour Kubrick shows various shots of life in outer space. Kubrick shows us the life of an astronaut, which is very boring, and we completely get the message. The spaceships interior and exterior are bulky and outdated looking. Remember what the first cell phone looked like? Me neither, but that's what the future looks like in 2001. All the characters have clothes and hairdos that resemble 1968. The chairs are decorated in bright red colors, and they're oddly shaped because we all know, in the future, we're going to be sitting in weird looking chairs. The computer screens are hideous looking and this is obviously prior to HDTV because the clarity is atrocious. All the TV sets look like they're from 1968, so it's not all that futuristic. Like all films set more than 20 years in advance, they look terrible and unconvincing. Just because this is Kubrick, we shouldn't say, "Well, that's how you would think it looks." No, I wouldn't. Just like I wouldn't think a computer would be talking to me in the year 2047. It's not going to happen and if someone made a film right now, set 30 years in time, and had a talking, self thinking computer, I would laugh at the stupidity of it. Just like I did with "2001".
HAL is the liveliest person- shoot I just called him a person. HAL is a computer, but he has more life than any of the muted characters in this film. And HAL actually thinks he's alive. He sees humans as his maintenance men who take care of him while he does all the work. HAL "reads" the lips of one of the very few conversations between Dave and Frank and he "sees" that they are planning to turn him off. This is where the only dramatic part of the film enters- An ensuing battle between a red light and a guy in a spaceship trying to get into a bigger spaceship. Oh, the drama!! Once HAL thinks he has the upper hand, Dave makes his way back into the spaceship proving mans ingenuity. Dave proceeds to terminate HAL. HAL pleads for his life as he slowly fades away, which, like everything else, seems to take forever. If the scene was shortened I think it could have been truly incredible.
The final act is just as tedious as the first two. The huge block that the Apes found appears again at the end. It comes out of nowhere... again. Then, an infant is born in a placenta-like shield overlooking the earth from space. What is Kubrick saying? Is it about transformation? Dave to an infant? Is man evolving again? Is Kubrick saying this is the end of man and the start of whatever that alien looking thing is? Maybe I'm going crazy trying figure out what this crazy director is trying to say, but the more I think about it the more the beginning and the ending make sense. There are a few questions left unanswered, especially for the purpose of the blocks, but if you can make it through the film it should spark some thought.
The film moves at a snail's pace. The first act and the third acts are fairly strong, but the second act meanders around, hovering in one place for what seems like eternity. There is some intriguing ideas in the film that will provoke some thought if you give it a chance. And for that, it finds some level of profound greatness.