Film of the Week #38 - 2001: A Space Odyssey

Karl Hungus

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/

It's been a very long time since I've seen this, so I'm not sure quite what to say about it, but perhaps this is a good excuse to see it again. It is very iconic, and a lot of scenes really do stick in your memory. And it's amazing just how creepy a red lightbulb can be. There's no doubting the influence on popular culture either, the amount of references in The Simpsons and other such shows are a testament to that.

Discuss.

The Bollox

I am very happy to see this classic get into Film Of The Week. it really is a must see for any movie lover. The film has inspired so many scenes and indeed so many movies. HAL 9000 is a great antagonist, it's voice is so cold and you can her it's contempt for the astronauts whom it sees as vastly inferior and stupid. the special effects were really very special, some fantastic camera tricks used which will leave you feeling dizzy. one thing I will say to anyone planning to watch the film is don't watch it and expect a mind blowing film because you will more than likely be dissapointed. I watched this after hearing many many people telling me it is far too long with little dialogue, but the film is really much much more.

one part of the film that I really did like was

when Dave starts dismanteling HAL and HAL starts pleading with Dave. It's voice starts getting more vague and distorted and I think it's last words were the lyrics of Daisy Daisy. for me a very touching scene

so watch this film if you want to see a real artist (Kubrick) at work and let him show you how a real film is made

10/10

Retr0gamer

When I first watched this film I had heard all the hype about it and how it was one of the definitive sci-fi films. Despite setting myself up to be bitterly disappointed it was one of the most enthralling movie experiences ever. I couldn't make head nor tail of the ending but when my dad explained it to me how it was the different stages of evolution competing against each other Darwin style and I saw it again it was an even better experience. I can see how some people won't like this film but they would be the ADD generation, the type that will fall asleep if there is too much talking or no action.

The silence and lack of dialogue is what sets this film apart and sets up a very creepy atmosphere. HAL is fantastic and the voice work is excellent, they didn't use any distortion effects. The special effects even hold up today.

It is full of very memorable scenes such as the scene already mentioned by The Bollox and the totally silent scene of dave in the space pod.

One of the, if not the best film ever committed to celluloid.

mike65

Epic! But not as epic as Kubrick intended as 20 mins got cut out after its premier. Its still the most authentic depiction of man in space I think, no 'engage gravity' nonsense here. The visuals work cos they are'nt flashy while the 'deep stuff' can be bought into or overlooked.

Maybe it should be, there is a good story (not sure how true it is) where Kubrick is asked what the film is about and he replies "ask Arthur Clarke" when Clarke is asked he says "ask Kubrick"!

Mike.

Retr0gamer

Speaking of HAL how great would a system shock film be if it was done right.

lodgepole

mike65 wrote:

Epic! But not as epic as Kubrick intended as 20 mins got cut out after its premier.

Kubrick cut the 20 minutes himself, just as he did to The Shining.

aurel

Yay! Definitely in my Top five of all time. A brilliant meditation on reality and evolution on a huge scale. Wonderfully glacial and deeply affecting. Scene after scene of iconic images performances and a beautifully poetic denouement. Should be seen by any serious cinema fan with the caveat that it unwinds slowly, deliberately and unconventionally.

johnny_ultimate

This is possibly the film that kick started my love of serious cinema (along with one or two others I also give credit to).

It really is just such an amazing experience sitting down and watching it for the first time. I honestly remember sitting there, knowing full well there was no CGI being used, and just gaping at some of the shots:

The Waitress doing a 360, the astronaut running around the deck, the space ship ballet, the final stunningly colourful and powerful headtrip

. Actually, the whole film is just a visual treat, yet to bettered in my eyes. The likes of The Fountain (which I really did like as well) and Sunshine clearly try to replicate the energy and visual vibrancy of 2001, but it really has yet to be surpassed - even with the use of modern technology.

As for the content, it truly is a multi-layered complex narrative - full of commentary on human nature, the growing power of technology (surely HAL as a character is even more relevant today than it was 40 years ago?) and even questions the whole concept of time and space in it's famous last couple of minutes. I'd be lying if I said I understood the tapestry of themes completely (it has been quite a while since I have sat through the whole thing - for some reason I've seen the two first sections (i.e. the prehistoric section and the space station) multiple times, but I think Ive only got through the whole thing once or twice Strange, because despite it's slow pace, it really is a very, very compelling film.

Anyway, can't say much that hasn't been written about it hundreds of times before. It's a film that is constantly flirting in and out of my top ten, but like Retr0 said, it is one of those films which can certainly be considered as one of the greatest of all time. For a sci-fi film - perhaps the genre that ages most obviously (Logan's Run and the like) - it really is quite some feat, but then few other films have ever come close to having the intelligence or insight of this masterpiece.

Jello

A masterpiece. It really evoked a huge sense of wonder in me when I was younger, and along with Star Wwars it started my love of sci-fi.

Fantastic cinematography, so many memorable scenes and really a step above almost everything else of its kind.

mike65

Does music make the movie?

Its hard to imagine no Vienna waltz or the strange rumbling, scraping ambient howl during the stargate sequence.

Mike.

ixoy

Good to see others recognise the brilliance of the movie. I nominated it for many of the reasons stated above - in many respects, I still believe this to be one of the best science fiction movies of all time, perhaps the best. Sure I might enjoy "Aliens" on a more visceral level, but "2001" is one of the few to actual tackle the big matters of sci-fi and question our place in the cosmos (it has the odd distinction of being highly approved by the Catholic Church because it shows a higher power).

This is the movie that showed me why Kubrick is so feted, venerated, honoured, worshipped and adored - the brilliant cinematography, the great orchestral accompaniment, the multi-layered story that unfolds at a sedate, thoughtful and explorative pace. Intelligence permeates the movie in a manner that's so awfully lacking in the genre typically.

Despite being made nigh on forty years ago, it's also one of the most plausible, obeying the rules of science as they were known (sound in space, gravity, Newtonian motion, etc). Only a few have tried to echo this realism in the intervening years (most recently with "Sunshine") and I think the genre is weakened far too much in favour of the plague of "shoot 'em up" sci-fi that "Star Wars" brought to us.

Sadly, it's a movie that would never be made today. Imagine a producer agreeing to a movie where there's no dialogue in the first 25 minutes or the last 23 - the director audacious enough would be laughed out of it. Thankfully we got someone brave enough to bring us this visionary masterpiece that has stood the test of time. One of the all time greats of cinema making.

That_Guy

Havent's seen this in ages. Excellent choice indeed.

senordingdong

Hmmm....I never got into the movie, I must have been too young.
Which is a shame becuase I know I have the book in my room.

stevejazzx

What a movie this is...
Theres too much info to go into but this is an essential piece of information here to undertaniding the movie:
http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=bdKHuyhhyuM

The monolith is believed by many as being the catalyst for human develpment, the spark that began it all planted or sent extreterrestial intelligence to earth. Allegorically, the best idea I've heard is that the monolith might represent our own consciousness, or perhaps even communication with that alien force.

Man in space is like the ape with his first tools..and these tools and later, machines, become essential to mans evolution...the technology becomes so advanced that it actually contends to replace us.It becomes almost sentient. But is Hal programmed with the project as the most important goal, even more important than the human casulaties? We're not sure, what is implied in 2001 is that HAL actually becomes kind of sentient and interpets the project as the most important goal, even though his coding may not actually support that idea, HAL can override and kill the hibernating astronauts. The theory says that it is the inevitable consequence of unending technological evolution that the machines turn against their creators becasue machines are programmed to be as effective as possible whereas human are constantly ineffective..it all seems very sci-fi but modern quatum mechanics supports the idea that sentience or a kind of higly synthesised sentience may be possible form extremely sophisticated hardware. If it does happen then man is danger of becoming slave to the machine that is if he is not already. I like the explanation for the end of the movie here..I'd more or less go along with it although there is a more exact explanation here..