Stanley Kubrick is undoubtedly one of cinema’s true visionaries, having made films for the better part of half a century that have stood out as being some of the most unique films in history: ‘A Clockwork Orange’, ‘Full Metal Jacket’, ‘The Shining’ to name a few. I’m probably not as partial to his style, mainly because I find his films quite frustrating to watch (with the exception of Eyes Wide Shut). Sorry if I’ve offended the Kubrick purists out there, but although I recognise that he’s brilliant, I don’t think that necessarily makes his films easy to sit through. He really does take his time, minute by minute with each scene, and he tests an audience’s patience.
When I first watched ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’, I came to it having heard the stories of its ‘classic’ status and was keen to check it out given that I’m quite the sci-fi buff. I’m still not sure what to think. The opening sequence of the Sun coming up over the Earth combined with that now infamous music by Richard Strauss is nothing short of jaw-dropping and left a very strong first impression. When I saw that, it seemed like a perfect opening that captured the grandness of space.
Yet, the film then starts to progress through a rather unformulaic way. There’s a story, and there isn’t. We follow the progress of man’s first step from being an ape to becoming what he is today, but after a few minutes of seeing those monkeys jump around in prehistoric times, I got the picture. I didn’t need to see more than that but you do. Then there’s the spectacular transition from one of the apes throwing a bone in to the air and it cuts to a spaceship of similar shape orbiting the Earth – a jump cut of a millenia! Then we get to see space ships and space stations dancing to the Blue Danube. It’s quite beautiful and very well directed, yet for a lot of people I can imagine them wondering: what the hell is going on here? Then we move to the more straight-forward part of the narrative where we meet the infamous HAL, an artificial intelligence that runs the spaceship Gary Lockwood and his astronauts are running. This part of the film is about man vs machine – the idea that all things being equal, a computer should be perfect, but as is so cleverly demonstrated by Kubrick, HAL is definitely not and by that token we shouldn’t put all our trust in a machine. And after the HAL storyline is resolved, we move to an extremely surreal journey through the cosmos where humanity meets its future with the famous image of the Star Child closing out the film, representing humanity’s infancy in the universe (a symbolic mirror of the opening when apes became men). It’s all very high concept, but you have to dig it out for yourself and I can imagine this might frustrate the casual viewer.
The film is a masterpiece. The film also depicts a very realistic vision of the Earth, the surface of the Moon, and our Solar System – impressive given the film was made before humanity went to the Moon. The images are nothing short of spectacular. What Kubrick does with the form will not be to everyone’s taste but at least you can appreciate the man for trying something different. Imagine that happening in Hollywood today…
For the original DVD review, click this link: http://www.allaboutmovies.net/dvdreview2001aspaceodyssey.htm
Alex DeMattia is the lead DVD reviewer at the film/DVD review web site All About Movies.net – He is also an administrator of the web site http://www.approachingsexywomen.com
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