2001: A Space Odyssey
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
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What a film. That was my first impression. Whether it was good or not, I couldn't be too sure though. I know a lot of film addicts would crucify me for writing that down, but, this film is very peculiar. I think even it's admirer's will be able to admit that...Hell, even Kubrick would've admitted that.
The pacing is just so agonizingly slow, that you sometimes have to check your own pulse to make sure that you're still alive. There is very little dialogue in this over two hour film, and the story moves along at a snail's pace. In most movies, this would probably destroy the film's integrity, because a slow pace is nice, but when it's crawling...that's stretching it. But, when you realize what kind of movie this is, which pretty much is nothing like anything else I've personally seen, it somehow makes it not so bad. Believe me, at times the pacing can still be disheartening, but, it isn't such a huge problem as one would think.
The story, for the most part, is rather confusing unless you pay really good attention. It's really four short stories in one film, all circling around one important theme. Man's intelligence and his evolution. The movie starts off, and we are subjected to man at the very dawn of existence, when we were but lowly gorilla-like beings. After discovering this monolith, they grow intelligent. Jump a few thousands years or so, and here we are. The 21st Century. The film then shows off our advances in technology, but then shows the monolith once more, having been discovered in a crater on the moon. After it radiates a sound, we jump again, only slightly further in time. An expedition has been set out for Jupiter for confidential reasons, that only the super computer known as HAL 9000 knows. But, when the computer gets the idea that it's occupants are trying to somehow sabotage the mission, HAL 9000 turns on them, and systematically tries to kill them, hoping to protect this mission. And then, another slight jump in time, in which one of the main characters takes a jump through what seems to be a strange, evolutionary portal, in which he sees things that are even harder to explain than the film itself.
As you can see, the plot is extremely convulted.
So, the plot is confusing, there is no characterization whatsoever, the pacing is horrific, and to top it all off...it's really quite long.
Kubrick is a genius.
What he accomplished here is something that I can admit is very astonishing. I personally did not like the movie. I said it, there we are. I would not wish to watch it again, because there isn't enough there for me to enjoy. But, this is a landmark in filmmaking. It's just so well-made, so meticulous in all the details. And then, the wonderful camera-work, the colors...nevermind the special effects for the space scenes, which are years upon years ahead of their time.
So, in the end, this film, for personal taste, it would rate very, very low. But I can honestly say that I truly appreciate the movie for what it is...a legend.
Personal Vote: 4/10
Appreciation Vote: 8/10
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