2001: A Space Odyssey Reviews and Ratings


  • 0001hrs
    November 27, 2009
    0001hrs
    The sets will shock you.
  • diegosp2
    November 25, 2009
    diegosp2
    Let me see the work of Stanley Kubrick again.
  • skotjay
    November 23, 2009
    skotjay
    The only movie I can think of that is made BETTER by reading the book first. That's my suggestion, read the book first, then watch the movie.
  • hamm1365
    November 20, 2009
    hamm1365
    2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) is turly the best scinece fiction film ever made by Stanley Kubrick's wonderful vision of human evolution, space travel, technology, artificial intelligence, and extraterrestrial life.

    But still, the mystery of 2001 is still a mystery to this day.
  • CurtisoftheDead
    November 18, 2009
    CurtisoftheDead
    Kubrick's masterpiece. There is almost no dialog in this film, but it is so visually stunning and interpretational that it almost sends one's mind into overload. Words can't do the film justice.

    Who Should See this?
    1) People who have eyes
    2) Kubrick Fans
    3) Apes and Monoli...( read more)ths
    4) Sci Fi Nerds
    5) Really anyone who enjoys film
  • lf39
    November 15, 2009
    lf39
    The next step in man's evolution...
    Transcendental...
  • AtheneSchmidt
    November 12, 2009
    AtheneSchmidt
    there should be a 'I wasted 2 whole hours of my life on this movie' rating. this is the most boring movie I've ever seen.
  • blackheart218
    November 12, 2009
    blackheart218
    woo dude that some far out shit maann...
  • SeetheChild
    November 9, 2009
    SeetheChild
    This is a film I can appreciate from afar but not actually watch because I don't want to waste two hours of my life. Insanely tedious by meticulous Stan who somehow garnered millions to champion his films whilst actually watching them produces nothing more than a ho-hum. There's ...( read more)probably good ideas and great minds behind this film but actually watching it, the physical fucking task of sitting down and opening your eyes as this thing crawls across the screen makes me want to bite into my wrist webbing to produce the red. I'm a fucking retard, fine. I'll sit down here and avoid this fucking film thank you.
  • maxwelleite
    November 7, 2009
    maxwelleite
    Clássico do sci-fi. Obra de arte.
  • anihideth
    November 6, 2009
    anihideth
    Classical, unique and wonderfull. Kubrick was a genius, no doubt! The final of the movie is absolutely freak! The best final EVER!
  • LawlPandas
    November 5, 2009
    LawlPandas
    Kinda boring.
    I'm completely operational and all my circuits are functioning perfectly.
  • shwetjain
    November 3, 2009
    shwetjain
    very boring, its like watching Silence movie, sound affects are very annoying sometime i have to turn my speakers low... truly over rated. My rating would be better if I had seen this film in 1968
  • totalefreiheit
    November 2, 2009
    totalefreiheit
    Muy buena. Un clasico de la Sci-Fi. Y no es que la haya hecho Kubrick (que no me cae bien), sino que esta version filmica refleja bien a mi gusto la gran historia de Arthur C. Clarke.
  • weikel2000
    November 1, 2009
    weikel2000
    I don't really get how this movie is thought of as so incredible, it's long and drawn out. It's not bad, and maybe I could see they hype if they were to cut about 30 minutes of waste.
  • chrispearce92
    November 1, 2009
    chrispearce92
    every one should see this film!!!
  • caiojeremy
    October 30, 2009
    caiojeremy
    Não tenho como dar nota para esse filme. Tentei ver muitas vezes, mas o sono foi mais forte.
  • FilmAddykt
    October 25, 2009
    FilmAddykt
    This would be my weak attempt to review and interpret this Masterpiece. I really don't know what I can contribute to the analysis of this epic that cuts through the evolution of man and the whole course of humanity.

    First of all, just to get it out of the way, let me say a few ...( read more)things about the technical aspects of the movie. This movie probably has the best direction and cinematography ever. Kubrick delivers his best work. The visuals of the movie are just so beautiful and effective. Whether it's the dry as a bone depiction of earth at the dawn of time, the very realistic depiction of the moon surface (before we even had photographic or video footage of it!), the sterile clean space station and the spaceship Discovery One or space in its infinite glory these images are the way that Kubrick choses in order to convey every message and emotion this movie offers and most of all the feeling that we are part of something much bigger than ourselves. That being said we should not underestimate the use of music and sound effects in the movie. I cannot imagine how the movie would be if it wasn't for the magnificent melodies of Strauss. In addition dispite the lack of dialogues, Kubrick offers the most accurate and suitable pacing in order keep the viewers senses alert for taking in the movie. The final outcome of all this is a sublime movie, a real audiovisual opus and a carrier of beauty. The beauty of the unexplored, of the infinite, of space. I think I made clear that this is the best movie Kubrick made and definitely the best science fiction movie. And that could have been achieved only through the forementioned characteristics.

    But the movie also offers a very deep and difficult to conceive philosophical and symbolical ground. Note that this is a review based on my firs and only viewing of the film and I find it impossible for myself to fully understand the movie. Nevertheless I'll try to enlighten you as much as I can. The first symbol that we encounter in the beggining of the movie. the depiction of the dawn of time is the monolith and it remains the most important one as it re-appears throughout the movie. The monolith when first seen by apes is welcomed with certain emotions. Anxiety, fear and a general disorientation. That is exactly the way that the people of the year 2001 interact with it too. Despite the technological and mental expansion of man he still remains a disoriented ape when faced with the simple and dark depiction of his excistence and his inner self. And that's what I believe the symbol of the monolith is. A way for them, a warning if wou may, to understand the base of their excistence, something impossible and that's why, I believe, the origins, use and everything about the monolith, other than its excistence, remains unknown by man. I mentioned before the technological expansion of man. That is another interesting subject in the movie, how depentend we are on the machine and our discoveries in general. The bone of the primitive ape is the spaceship of the future man and they are both destroyed by them. The apes in the first part of the movie start killing each other because some can use tools and some can't. The apes with the tools go against the others not because they are really scared by the rest of them but just because they have evolved just a small bit further and they think that they are something else now. In the same way the future men trust their companions lives to HAL. They too become dependend on their discoveries and that leads to their demise. Ultimately it's very ironic having your own creation turn against you but the movie goes to show the great wil powerl that a man needs to tame his own creations and his own self. As we continue towards the end of the movie we have the comeback of the monolith and a strange trip that the main character goes through in order to end in room where he ages, dies and is finally reborn. This could be interprented as man finding God or even the meaning of life but it is just too hard to fully understand. In my opinion I think that whithin the room we witness, once again the insignificance of the human race compared to the universe and how limited our capabilities are in the end, closed to a little room, captives of our own fragile excistence. Our species just feels so important with it's technology that feels a stronger and stronger need to explore its boundaries. But how is that possible when it can't explore its core? The movie however doesn't dismiss humanity but just goes to show that as long as we have these flaws, we need to come in touch with our basic insticts and understand our fears and how fragile our life is in order to throw the bone away as the monkeys in the beggining did.

    This is a movie that everyone must see and at least dismiss it. It's very hard to filter the ideas that the movie trys to convey and if you are interested in doing so you need to have a very open mind towards the movie. May God or whatever deity has created this magnificent universe rest Kubricks soul for his cinematic work and especially this movie, a definitive work of art for our time and a priceless heritage for many generations to come.
  • zdravkoduck
    October 21, 2009
    zdravkoduck
    Why don't people make films like this anymore. Where are the genius' nowadays? So much of entertainment is force feeding you things you've already seen a thousand times. How about a film that leaves you wondering about the world you live in and the people that inhabit it, nothing...( read more) more. Watch this movie smoke a joint drop some shrooms and listen to Bill Hicks and you're mind will be blown
  • ElCochran90
    October 17, 2009
    ElCochran90
    "Open the pad bay doors please, Hal."



    2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968)




    Director: Stanley Kubrick

    Country: United Kingdom / United States of America

    Genre: Science Fiction / Adventure / Mistery

    ...( read more)>Length: 148 minutes



    Photobucket




    This is, probably, the most complicated review I will ever make about a movie. 2001: A Space Odyssey is definitely a new wonder of the world that goes beyond the definition of cinema itself. 2001: A Space Odyssey is pure art... cosmic art. Because of its majesty, among many other aspects that will be treated in a moment, it became in what many people consider "the mother of sci-fi films". For me, the real mother of sci-fi films is Metropolis (1927), so we'll consider 2001: A Space Odyssey as the mother of space sci-fi films and Metropolis (1927) as the true mother of sci-fi films. Undoubtedly, not even a single written review on this planet does complete justice to what 2001: A Space Odyssey manages to transmit to worldwide audiences if we do a full recount of what this masterpiece accomplishes. This is the most beautiful proof of the famous phrase "an image is more worthy than 1,000 words", so 2001: A Space Odyssey should be a seen and heard experience, but not only spoken or read about without seeing it.



    2001: A Space Odyssey is a masterpiece ahead of its time. That's a fact. Stanley Kubrick's direction is so unique and brilliant that despite the fact that he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director, lost to Carol Reed with his charming, yet inferior musical Oliver! (1968), which is incredibly stupid. However, the 60's can not be entirely put to blame. Thank God the Academy was not so blinded with so much majesty and glory on the screen 40 years ago and awarded the film for Best Special Effects. I'll write a paragraph specifically about that aspect as well. The awards for Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration were not won by the film either: it just won an Oscar... Undoubtedly, 2001: A Space Odyssey has redefined both the genre itself and the definitions of "cinema" and "direction".



    2001: A Space Odyssey tells the story of a mysterious artifact that is discovered buried on the moon, which, curiously, is estimated to have been buried about 4 million years ago. Eighteen months later, once that a signal being sent to Jupiter from the moon is detected, a team is sent to investigate along with the computer HAL-9000. Being more honest about this, the plot is the least important thing about the film, since it only helps to get to the point the film tries to make and to establish the theories that the film exposes.



    Since the first seconds of the film run, Stanley Kubrick shows his ability to create art with cinematography. From the prehistoric Africa to the confines of space, every shot, every angle, every camera rotation, every sequence is incredibly filmed and taken care of, adjusting themselves to a stunning and unparalleled perfection. That's why, cinematographically speaking, 2001: A Space Odyssey is one of the most beautiful and sensual experiences I've ever had: a true, authentic odyssey. The fact that the film wasn't nominated for Best Cinematography either is beyond me. To all of the things we've mentioned, we'll talk about two mire essential aspects in Kubrick's filmmaking style: the music and the pace.



    The music of Johann Strauss is one of the most elegant and harmonious choices for the creation of atmospheres in a film that I have ever seen. Songs like "The Blue Danube" and "Thus Spoke Zarathustra," beautifully performed by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, makes us feel like dancing in the stars throughout space like if we were little children. The rhythm and pace of each sequence has a specific purpose, transforming each shot into something that must be admired at its fullest, never losing their original meaning; not one single shot is a leftover since everything forms part of a gradual process of transmitting a message. The pace is obviously not fast. Nor is it slow. It is just the best for a story of such uniqueness and depth.



    Finally, talking about the cinematographic and technical aspects of the film, one of the most amazing and innovative characteristics for the year of 1968 (analyze that number, please) were the special effects. The way these were created, the creativity that required bringing them to the screen, are details that ultimately end up being completely irrelevant. What really matters about the special effects is that they can create and portray a universe, the emotions they cause in us (including travelling to infinity), the brilliance they have, the genius they represent, the way they hypnotize us, and the beautiful, wide range of colors they include. Just take a look at those colors! I even dare to say that those are the best special effects I've seen in my life.



    Well... it's time to actually start talking about 2001: A Space Odyssey:



    2001: A Space Odyssey is more than just a trip or a simple odyssey. It is a reflection, a commentary... one of the most chilling and true commentaries I've seen in my life, by the way. Neither the 60's nor subsequent decades were ready for such a complex message. In fact, they were so unready that almost nobody really understood the film. The movie was called "tedious," "boring", "stupid", and it was said that "it didn't make sense at all". There was so much anger that even nowadays people can't understand why 2001: A Space Odyssey is considered one of the best films of all time. Therefore, these people show and express their anger calling it "the worst / most boring movie of all time." Why do they do that, you ask? They do that because they don't want to feel stupid. I'm not saying that people are stupid if they do not get the film, but that's how they usually feel. What they do not understand is the fact that the film itself is not easy to watch, and if a person does not prepare to watch the film with an open mind and fails to receive the beauty that 2001: A Space Odyssey ends up transmitting, admiring its majesty in the way that Stanley Kubrick planned since the beginning, and neither the person prepares to see a whole new, deep, complex experience, different from the usual garbage that modern cinema represents nowadays (especially the sci-fi genre), the experience becomes into a more tedious, longer and never-ending one, until the glorious moment finally arrives: "THE MOVIE ENDS!" Unfortunately, we do not live in a society that is eager to see new and different forms of art with an open mind; on the contrary, the modern society doesn't read, neither bothers to decompose something into different layers, neither applies critical thinking (just like when we were apes). Ironically, that is one of the main themes of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Funny, isn't it? What people see nowadays is "a bunch of dumb apes jumping for 30 minutes" and "see the same spaceships over and over again in endless sequences".



    Another key topic in 2001: A Space Odyssey is the evolution of mankind. A highly relevant element within the plot is a deliberately placed monolith in the most important evolutionary stages of man. It is first seen in the prehistoric Africa, 4 million years ago when the man was an ape: "The Dawn of Man." The reactions the apes show are exactly the same ones that we as fully evolved and rational beings would show nowadays: fear, curiosity, astonishment. From this moment on, the man discovers the use of tools that are at his reach and the creativity to create new ones according to their specific survival needs. However, as time went by, such tools ceased to serve these purposes and they became artifacts that made of our lives something a little bit easier and comfortable. Finally, when man is at the top of his evolutionary process, the second part of the story begins. The brutal development of technology allowed us to know a little bit more about the visible Universe that man has acknowledgment of, until now...



    It is exactly at this point when Kubrick expresses his opinion about man and his possible role and relevance in the Universe. In 1997, Robert Zemeckis directed a film called Contact, in which a thoughtful comment is made near the end of the film: since the size of the Universe goes beyond our imagination, it makes our size and the space Earth occupies look almost meaningless, which makes us think that we are talking about an immense waste of space. Kubrick exposed this idea in a more brutal and direct manner 30 years ago. Just like when we were apes, just like when we were born and just like when we grew up to be just children at some point, man finds himself in a condition of similar vulnerability and dependence (towards technology) one more time once he is in space. Man requires special grip shoes in order to walk due to the lack of gravity, requires of a deep hibernation state in order to assure a longer survival period and requires food literally turned into pulp so he can provide his organism with essential nutrients. The music of Strauss and the way the Universe (in fact, only the Solar System, a tiny part of the Universe itself) is represented makes us look SO small, that we do not know if our reaction should be based in fear or laughter. In fact, we are nothing. We are just a race in charge of getting rid of a planet located in the Solar System the best way we can, a race so curious that ends up ambitioning space travel in order to explore and builds a base on the moon.



    Just as we mentioned, the monolith appears during the most important evolutionary stages of man: firstly 4 million years ago, then in the future (as the film in 2001) where we are capable of exploring the space and walking on the moon, and finally both in the infinity of space and in the death of man. Whether the monolith has a particular meaning or not, the truth is that the monolith is placed there more than just deliberately. It is present in the biggest challenges of man and has a notorious influence in our evolutionary process. That is a fact.



    The antagonist is one of the cruelest and coldest "villains" I have ever seen. The most chilling part is that the antagonist is a technological creation of man. The same man, blinded by industrialization, commerce, a faster technological development than those of the most powerful countries in the world, among other things, make him build machines that can amaze each new generation and each new millennium even more intensely, and (the worst of all) that can "imitate" human reasoning and emotions that distinguish us as human beings. That is the element Kubrick uses to create chaos. Although it ain't the first time that the concept of conflict between man and machines has been portrayed on a film, 2001: A Space Odyssey has definitely one of the most memorable, making HAL-9000 to become aware of its existence and to believe that it is "alive". Some may say that HAL-9000 won the battle but not the war, so man triumphs in the man-machine conflict. Obviously, this is totally untrue. If that were true, the man would not have taken his own spaceship and the thousands of artifacts in it to travel to Jupiter afterwards. We are incredibly dependent of technology and machines so greatly that it is laughable.



    Another complicated issue treated by the film is the anxiety and curiosity that has always distinguished man for the comprehension of all phenomena around him so he can get to know what the human eye can't perceive or isn't able to see. Therefore, man is divided into two categories and creates two ways of thinking: science and philosophy (somehow linked with religion). That's why human beings are an agnostic and existentialist race in the deepest part of their being. We all have thought at least once about the classic 20 million dollar questions: "What are we?", "Where do we come from and where are we going?" and "What is the meaning of life?". The protagonist has a journey so intense and revealing, and experiences a rebirth so special and meaningful (becoming a very special being himself) at the end of the film, that, within the film, he's probably the only human being that ends up receiving the answers to these questions in a very direct and supernatural way. I'm definitely not suggesting that 2001: A Space Odyssey has the definitive answers to these questions, questions that I think we should not fully understand yet (what would be the purpose of life if we already understood them beforehand?) but the director definitely expresses his own opinion and what he thinks about the topic.



    The last scene, which takes place in a very particular scenario of a very peculiar silence and a color that is so peaceful that one feels like floating when walking, is completely symbolic. There are different theories about what actually happened since the monolith made its penultimate appearance near Jupiter: the monolith opened a black hole; the protagonist travels to the fourth dimension where the schemes of time and space are broken; the protagonist meets God at the middle of his travel and he starts to have visions. Regardless of what actually could have happened, it is pretty obvious that the monolith had a big influence on it (once again), being a crucial element for concluding the story. We shouldn't take this scenario (the room) in its most literal form; it just shows the fragility of man and how vulnerable he can be specifically talking about the container of both the spirit and soul (the religious part and the emotional one) that is the body itself. The cup didn't just "fell accidentally". It tries to represent that our "container" may break at any time. "Death has its victory so assured that it gave us a whole life of advantage. Live it." Death can reach us at any time, an event that represents the final challenge of man: the transition to another life, or if you prefer it, the discovery of events that follow death if there is actually a new life.



    The ending scene, which is one of the best scenes in movie history for me - just like the opening scene, the scene with the ape and the bone throwing, and the space sequence which begins with a bone thrown to the air which is transformed into a satellite - shows the rebirth of man as a very unique and special being: the Star-Child. That's the most perfect way to conclude all the theories and opinions that Kubrick showed throughout 2001: A Space Odyssey for me. "We are star dust." We just became into a star between millions of stars, having literally the same size we had when we were humans in comparison with the existent, infinite Universe and space.



    Not even this review does justice to what 2001: A Space Odyssey really is. Stanley Kubrick was one of the best directors of cinema history that has ever lived and this is his most representative work of art of the genius he was. Forty years later, he continues to cause controversy and place new questions in his films, which are left to interpretation and have open endings. 2001: A Space Odyssey belongs to a category of superior cinema to almost any other and has the honor of literally being one of the best films of all time, of using a new way of narrating an epic story and of revolutionizing the genre, influencing hundreds of filmmakers in the future. Glory on the screen, and a feast for the senses, 2001: A Space Odyssey is the definitive masterpiece of a genius, and a rather interesting comment of what we are and represent, and the meaning of life itself.



    100/100
  • ctemple1
    October 12, 2009
    ctemple1
    The pacing of this movie is tough to deal with today.
  • xXxHarleyxQuinnxXx
    October 12, 2009
    xXxHarleyxQuinnxXx
    WHAT IS THIS MOVIE ACCUALLY ABOUT!!! I will not lie...this is one of those movie where i had no idea what the heck was going on!!! Where do i start! how about the music! I swear this soundtrack will haunt me for the rest of my days!! with the doo doo doo doo ahhh ahhh. It was a ...( read more)horror movie soundtrack.
    Next is the story...The first 20 min win the monkeys is bull. and the BLACK SLATE thing...WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT!??!!!
    This could have been a movie with an accual story if they would have kept with the HAL 9000 going crazy. That might have been a movie i would have enjoyed...but this! Im all for arts movies but the timetraveling/space flight sequences got drawn out FAAARR TOOOO LLLOOONNNGGGG.
    I truthfully could not find a credible story in this movie...Iike I said im all for art house pictures but this was rediculous!
    p,s. the LAST 20 min. is bull as well and makes ABSOLUETLY NOOO SENSE!!!!

    I will say the Kubrick was truley a director at least 10 yrs ahead of anyone else of his time...The style and cinnematography was brillient.

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    If i would have not just went on IMDB and looked up the plot sumery, i would never have have figured out what was going on...what the heck is a Monalith anywhy?? and why is David turned into a creepy baby thing!~?! !
  • marco65
    October 11, 2009
    marco65
    One of the greatest movie of all time!
  • WitchfulThinking
    October 10, 2009
    WitchfulThinking
    The most intelligent sci-fi film ever shot. Surreal and beautiful, it is the only sci-fi movie to date that has resisted the absurd convention of depicting audible sound in out space for the morons in the audience.
  • ZRUV
    October 9, 2009
    ZRUV
    Looks and sounds really good of what I have heard of it. Really want to see this.
  • alexdermer1
    October 7, 2009
    alexdermer1
    Perhaps one of the most visually impresive , realistic and scary sci fi films that have ever been made and who could expect any else from the great Stanely Kubrick.
  • gankem
    October 7, 2009
    gankem
    One of my favorite movies
  • paacific
    October 5, 2009
    paacific
    A Masterpiece in sci-fi, just imagine this movie was made in 1968 (written by the man himself Arthur C. Clarke) and yet it beats every sci-fi movie when it comes to concept, cinematography, beautiful scores and scientific accuracy.
    *cinematography is awesome, one of its kind
    * it...( read more)s ending is interpreted differently by everyone
    * it introduced me to the concept of HAL which has been haunting me ever since ;)
  • hawkledge
    October 5, 2009
    hawkledge
    Mind-bending sci-fi symphony epic pushing the limits of narrative and special effects, a meditation on technology and human destiny in a suite of visually dazzling and intellectually challenging, tangentially related stories set to avant-garde music and the strains of Strauss, fr...( read more)om the dawn of the human race to Jupiter and beyond.
  • donaldwhite1
    September 30, 2009
    donaldwhite1
    This is a movie that you need to read the book before you watch the movie. If you don't you won't have a clue as to what's going on. The special effects were light years ahead of their times and set up the effects used in both the early 'Star Wars' and 'Star Trek' motion pictures...( read more). It is interesting to see what we thought 2001 was going to be like back in 1968. If you can't find the book, I'll try to summarize the story. About 100,000 years ago an alien space probe lands on earth next to a troop of ape/men. It manipulates their primitive brains and instills the first intelligence on earth. It leaves and buries itself on the moon and waits to be found by the descendents of the ape/men. In 1999 an American moon base discovers the alien probe. When the sun light hits the probe is sends a signal to its mother probe on one of the moons of Jupiter. Somehow the scientists on Earth track the signal to Jupiter and plan a manned mission to Jupiter in 2001. In order to keep the Soviet Union from finding out about the true nature of the mission the astronauts are not to be told until they get to Jupiter. The only one on the space ship who knows the true nature of the mission is the ship's computer HAL 9000 the first artificially intelligent computer. The computer is told to lie to the Astronauts about the nature of the mission; however, the computer considers a lie to be an error that propagates though the system. First the computer begins to make mistakes detecting damaged components on the ship. When told of its error the computer begins to think of the humans as threats to the mission and begins to kill them off. The lone surviving astronaut dismantles the computer and proceeds to Jupiter alone. On the largest of the moons of Jupiter a larger version of the alien probe is found. The astronaut flies into it and is transported to a room where he spends the rest of his life. After he dies of old age the aliens turn him into a space baby and send him back to earth were he arrives in time to see the earth destroyed by nuclear bombs. The end. Best quote: "I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that."
  • djkynky1
    September 30, 2009
    djkynky1
    A highly over rated movie, but still a decent Sci Fi outing.
  • mudcore
    September 25, 2009
    mudcore
    Honestly, I don't have any idea about the history of science fiction specially in the early years but having this film shown in 1968 is just amazing! It's hard to believe this was released more than 40 years ago. I don't know where to start neither what to say because i found the...( read more) necessity to read more about this film to absorb and understand clearly the complexities they put on this. well, I believe it took me to a state of having a big question mark in my head after the last scene. yes. the colours were fantastic. the soundtrack, err-- it's 60's so that could be good enough. I guess gotta watch more Kubrick works from today.
  • acknowledge101
    September 24, 2009
    acknowledge101
    made over 40 years ago and still blows me right away.
  • brocksssssnyder
    September 23, 2009
    brocksssssnyder
    i used to think this was overrated. it is. no wonder.
  • SageSlowdive
    September 22, 2009
    SageSlowdive
    Can you say OVERRATED!!?!?
  • kaitlyn42397
    September 18, 2009
    kaitlyn42397
    not the best space movie out there
  • valadezraymond
    September 17, 2009
    valadezraymond
    very interesting film. the special effects and the technology is very realistic. the movie move as though its just floating along. if you love cinema this is a movie you must watch.
  • fatboyob5
    September 16, 2009
    fatboyob5
    visuals and sound are amazinggg. but the last "chapter" is a tad too much
  • oneboldsoul
    September 16, 2009
    oneboldsoul
    Maybe the most ambitious and Abstract film ever widely released . . .
  • sportsphenom1
    September 5, 2009
    sportsphenom1
    A revolutionary saga from the warped mind of Kubrick. "2001" is both undisputedly one of the greatest cinematic achievements of all time, yet flawed and ambiguous. So close to being the best film ever made, yet too all-encompassing to have a meaningful ending that I could make he...( read more)ads or tails of. Even Kubrick couldn't give a coherent explanation of the enigmatic "star-child". This movie is so breathtaking and suspenseful, yet sacrifices convergence for aesthetics and artistic prestige. I felt that this film had several opportunities to tie its various plots together, but kept detouring tangentially. This is simply a 5-star journey to a 4-star destination. Still, every serious movie-goer owes it to themselves to experience this mind-blowing epic, even if its just to improve your pop-culture reference IQ.
  • AbnormallyAttractedToSin
    September 5, 2009
    AbnormallyAttractedToSin
    Today I watched 2001 on Hd-dvd. Probably the best dvd presentation I have ever seen. You cold just tell how much the people involved wanted to make the presentation amazing.. There's over 3 hours of extras on the hd dvd, from interviews with everyone you ever heard of, Steven S...( read more)pielberg, George Lucas, Kubricks wife, who worked on the film also, even art work that he asked the crew to create, An extremely rare audio interview. Just too much to even mention.. A must own for everyone that loves the art of the creation of film.
  • SirPant
    September 4, 2009
    SirPant
    There is no doubt in my mind that this is the greatest film ever made. every time I watch it (and I've watched it quite a few times) I find something new, new meaning, new metaphors. Kubrick made very few films but with him the phrase 'Quality over quantity' rings very true. Bril...( read more)liant.
  • afbuelvasp
    September 3, 2009
    afbuelvasp
    Me gustó más la parioda de Los Simpsons :P
  • erikggrep
    September 3, 2009
    erikggrep
    As what the movie poster of 2001: A Space Odyssey says, it's an epic drama of adventure and exploration. This great sci-fi film depicts the perfect type of 2001 that never was to us when we had the Mir space station's atmospheric disintegration, Windows XP, Freddy Got F...( read more)ingered, and 9/11 in reality. (And heck, 2001 was also the year I graduated from junior high!) This alternate 2001, however, has space travel very commonplace in everyday life, with space planes, wheel-shaped space stations, moon bases, a manned voyage to the planet Jupiter, and the supercomputer HAL 9000. Most importantly, the mysterious black monolith - which first appeared in the prehistorical scene with the apes - is so mysterious, and I was so attracted to it that I had no idea where it came form, aside from the fact it's a source of intelligent life.

    2001 has good-quality special effects that no one had ever imagined during its 1968 release. I liked the spaceship models as they looked so real to me. But since Star Wars wasn't here yet, space here was so empty that there wasn't any sound in its vacuum, so I didn't hear any rocket blasts at all. And as for the final space sequences, watching the colorful visuals of Jupiter and its infinities was like experiencing a drug-induced acid trip, which was so weird to me!

    Excellently adapted from the Arthur C. Clarke novel and directed by Stanley Kubrick, 2001: A Space Odyssey features good acting performances from actors like Keir Dullea (Dave Bowman) and Gary Lockwood (Frank Poole). The instrumental background music is so powerful that it gets stuck in my head every time I hear it, especially with the "Also Sprach Zarathustra" and "The Blue Danube" scores that I liked. I'd wish that I can go back to the alternate 2001 and see how far the next level of human evolution can go before I could realize what's with the white-looking bedroom at the end scenes.
  • callyboy
    September 3, 2009
    callyboy
    It's amazing to think a film that is so old could be so visually stunning. But this piece of classic sci-fi also intelligently philosophises on what humans will become and how we began. This is no action thriller - this is a slowly-paced, intellectual and sometimes wierd movie wh...( read more)ere often the viewer has to interpret what is happening on screen.

Summary

2001: A Space Odyssey Summary