Review/Critique: 2001: a space odyssey

2001: a space odyssey

Stanley Kubrick

Review/Critique: It has been over 50 years since the release of "2001: a space odyssey" and it is still heralded as the definitive Sci-fi film. It has inspired many of the most famous pieces of popular media since its release (Wall-E and the Portal series for example) and is directed by one of the most famous names in all of cinema, Stanley Kubrick. This film has been built up so much for me that had it not come out over 50 years ago I'm unsure any other film could match the hype I had going into it. Due to it coming out so long ago though, almost nobody I know actually talks about the film aside from mentioning its title. This means aside from the famous quote "I can't do that Dave" from the AI "HAL" and the title, I knew nothing of this film when watching it. I think that was for the best, and now having reflected on it a bit more I feel comfortable saying that "2001: a space odyssey" is one of the greatest movies I have ever seen.

         Atmosphere is a word I use a lot when talking about media as it is one of the things I value most in any piece of work. This goes double with film as it is a visual medium. Whether you are at the edge of your seat during a good horror film or laughing your ass off during a comedy, atmosphere is what sets the tone and lets the audience know how to properly react to what the story throws at them. Perhaps it comes as no surprise then that I love this movie as much as I do when I claim that "2001: a space odyssey" builds atmosphere better than any other movie I have seen in my life. I know many people often find slow burning movies intended to build the richest atmosphere possible incredibly boring, for me though an ideal movie experience is an hour of heavy breathing with ten minutes of actual plot progression. This movie likely spends two hours of its two and a half hour run time simply crafting the atmosphere and building tension with long drawn out shots of these grand space crafts, planets, interfaces, characters walking around and staring at each other, all while in the background grand orchestra pieces dance around, hitting home just how epic the scope of everything you're looking at is. It is one of the slowest movies I have ever seen, the pacing being unbelievably consistent in its snailish nature, but to be honest with you I would've probably enjoyed an entire movie with no dialogue, just these shots and the absolutely epic orchestra in the background so I am clearly the intended audience for it.

         Now during the roughly 34 minutes where the plot is actually progressing or there are no monkeys on screen, its a pretty typical Sci-fi movie with all the common plots and themes your average Sci-fi movie has. The structure from start to finish deals with many philosophical ideas of what it means to be human and whether we as humans are ready for what the future of space travel and technology has in store for us. This should come as no surprise since "2001: a space odyssey" is one of the most influential Sci-fi films of all time, what's really impressive though is just how well this film executes on these now Sci-fi tropes. I'm still haunted from some moments in this film that pose these unanswerable questions in such a visceral way that twist your emotions like a knife in a wound. It is truly harrowing like no film I have ever seen really is, and yet ends on such an ambiguously positive tone, like we are somehow supposed to feel cheerful about everything that has happened. I think it is safe to say that even with as many imitations as this film has, there is no other quite like it - something insanely impressive to say about a movie that came out in 1968 yet I don't know if anyone would disagree with that statement. Often imitated, never duplicated. 

         There's much more I would like to say, but I think it's best if I move into the recommendation section now since anything else I would want to say would definitely move into spoiler territory. Just know that this film isn't just an atmospherically top class movie, but also a story-telling masterpiece.

Recommendation: This film feels very easy for me to recommend, possibly because I know who of my friends I would and wouldn't recommend it to. If you don't like slow movies that take a long time to build tension, please look far, far away from this film. If you're unsure whether or not that describes you, try and watch the twenty minute intro scene. If you finish it and are still interested in completing the movie, you are probably golden. The only exception to this is if you're a huge fan of Sci-fi movies, books, or games. If that is like, your genre, then I think it would be worth it for you to sit through it even if you hate the idea of watching a movie where it takes 5 minutes to move one space craft from point A to point B. If everything I have said above has piqued your interest, and you haven't seen it then I assume you're watching it as you read this (or should be). When you're done, shoot me a message about it on Twitter or Facebook so we can have a long, long talk about it.

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And that is my review/critique of "2001: a space odyssey"! This film was so insanely awesome I really do hope you check it out, as well look forward to my review/critique of Dune coming out in a few days, until then!