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2001 - A Space Odyssey
1968
A four-million-year-old black monolith is discovered on the moon, and the government sends a team of scientists on a fact-finding mission while hiding the truth from the public. Later, another team is sent to Jupiter in a ship controlled by the perfect HAL 9000 computer to further investigate the giant object--but something .. Read more
| Starring | Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester, Daniel Richter |
|---|---|
| Director | Stanley Kubrick |
| Genres | Sci-Fi/Fantasy |
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Critics' reviews (4)
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This seminal sci-fi work from Stanley Kubrick is now considered by many to be less a supreme piece of cinema than an interesting, innovative product of the 1960s. But the memorable celluloid images still strongly resonate, such as the giant, vulnerable foetus floating through space and the tribe of apes painfully putting two and two together. It is Kubrick's haunting, stylised combination of music and visuals that gives 2001 its eerie, mesmerising quality, but even its most devoted disciples are hard pressed to tell you what it's actually about, and, as a slice of philosophy on how we all got started and where we ultimately go, the movie has little credence. However, it's a must-see if you never have, even though its visual impact is seriously hampered by the small screen.
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A lengthy montage of brilliant model work and obscure symbolism, this curiosity slowly gathered commercial momentum and came to be cherished by those who used it as a trip without LSD.
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"...A significant landmark in the history of cinema. It's also, as the original posters proclaimed, 'the ultimate trip'..." -- 5 out of 5 stars
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Most helpful members' reviews (3)
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31 out of 46 people found this review helpful
The 1984 of films
A fundamental film. The computer HAL (one letter removed from IBM) is the villain, and is masterfully chilling. Very much ahead of its time and one of those films that it is a cultural necessity to see.
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20 out of 31 people found this review helpful
A long, long film
What a pile of pants. I'm not going to jump on the whole 'best film since sliced bread' bandwagon just because it was done by Stanley Kubrick - this film had me bored rigid. The computer takes over; great. That's it. Story told. Plus the first 20 mins or so were .... well, just bonkers. Sorry, but it was rubbish. I almost didn't finish watching it, but kept thinking it might get better. It didn't.
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18 out of 26 people found this review helpful
Birth, Death, Re-birth.....geddit ??
This film is simply a masterpiece.
Any film that can explain evolution of man.....death of man....and rebirth of a new species in little over 2 hours deserves 5 stars.
C'mon even a film as poor and insignificant as Pearl Harbour lasts 3 hours........3 looooong hours.
Go to http://www.kubrick2001.com/2001. html
for a layman's guide. -
Most recent members' reviews (2)
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4 out of 6 people found this review helpful
A haunting tale of evolution
This is undoubtedly Kubrick’s masterpiece. So much has been analyzed and dissected but the film still remains fresh after 35 yrs as each viewing unfolds a new meaning. The audience is given the space and liberty to interpret this film in their own way.
The odyssey started when prehistoric man learned to use hands to grip and use weapons to kill its prey. This was a gift from a higher intelligence to overcome adversities. But they soon learned to use it to kill men from other groups for their selfish end. The hatred and mistrust continues to the space age in a so-called civilized way when we see Floyd makes up a story of an epidemic to cover up the discovery of the monolith. In his journey to Jupiter and beyond man is left to a computer for all sorts of support, emotional (like computer giving birthday wishes) intellectual (playing chess with computer) and even vital life support provided to the scientists in hibernation. This portrayal of this lonesome journey is accentuated by beautiful and intelligent use of soundtrack, haunting music, dead silence and sound of heavy breathing and it reaches its climax when at the end of the film we see a solitary old man dining quietly in a corner of an impeccably ordained room. The final scene when man is seen as a baby in the womb (which some interpret as birth of a star child) makes us rethink where did we make the wrong turn in this odyssey. -
3 out of 4 people found this review helpful
A truly great film by Arthur C Clark
Pure genius it doesn't seem that old at all highly recommended for viewing.
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31 out of 46 people found this review helpful
The 1984 of films
A fundamental film. The computer HAL (one letter removed from IBM) is the villain, and is masterfully chilling. Very much ahead of its time and one of those films that it is a cultural necessity to see.
-
20 out of 31 people found this review helpful
A long, long film
What a pile of pants. I'm not going to jump on the whole 'best film since sliced bread' bandwagon just because it was done by Stanley Kubrick - this film had me bored rigid. The computer takes over; great. That's it. Story told. Plus the first 20 mins or so were .... well, just bonkers. Sorry, but it was rubbish. I almost didn't finish watching it, but kept thinking it might get better. It didn't.
-
18 out of 26 people found this review helpful
Birth, Death, Re-birth.....geddit ??
This film is simply a masterpiece.
Any film that can explain evolution of man.....death of man....and rebirth of a new species in little over 2 hours deserves 5 stars.
C'mon even a film as poor and insignificant as Pearl Harbour lasts 3 hours........3 looooong hours.
Go to http://www.kubrick2001.com/2001. html
for a layman's guide. -
15 out of 18 people found this review helpful
THE ONLY REALISTIC SPACE FILM I HAVE EVER SEEN
This DVD of 2001 has been done from a virgin print and cannot be faulted in terms of picture quality. This version is full length time-wise, but the original side screen images for the Cinerama are not present anywhere on this disc. I have heard they have been lost.
The most noticable thing about this film is it's so true to life. The spaceships are graceful and slow to alter course...... just like the real thing. You do not hear the sound of the engines as there is no sound in the vacuum of outer space.
Even the journey part of the film is supremely realistic in that it is long and tedious.
All this realism helps to get the audience into the same frame of mind that the astronaut will be in when the final climax occurs, and makes it far more dramatic than it would be otherwise
Once you have seen this film you will never forget it. -
12 out of 13 people found this review helpful
Great visuals and music
Its a tad slow and sometimes theres no sound at various situations. The story is not your usual protagonist, a problem and its solution. The canvas is quite literally huge and the timescale is beyond human imagination.
Stanley Kubrick captivates the viewers.
Its sad to see today in 2005 that we havent reached where we might have reached in 2001 as predicted long back -
12 out of 14 people found this review helpful
Switched off ater 10/15 minutes
Couldn't get past the first ten/fifteen minutes. I found this so boring I switched off.
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12 out of 15 people found this review helpful
can someone explain it to me?
The last time I saw this film was when it first came out. I had hoped that in viewing it again all these years later, and seeing it through older eyes, that I would appreciate it more, and be rather less baffled by parts of it. This was not the case, unfortunately.
The only thing I really enjoyed was the music, in particular The Blue Danube waltz (one of my favourite pieces of music) as fitted so perfectly with the scene it accompanied. -
11 out of 12 people found this review helpful
visual brilliance
Here's Kubrick at his very best, sometimes even logic is turned inside out and figuring out how on earth did he make such a film in the 60s is more frustrating than astro physics. An intense film, it's deeper than you think, and you need to understand it skin deep in order to clarify its essence. A ballet of machines, frames finer than a Caravaggio canvas, if you're a genuine film buff then here's your champagne in fine crystal.
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12 out of 17 people found this review helpful
highly overrated
This movie is just so painfully slow and dull that anyone born after it was made will want to keep their finger close to the fast-forward button.
Sure, it's artistic, in the same way that being boiled slowly in a vat of multicoloured paint might be called an artistic experience.
I usually enjoy old sci-fi movies but I found 2001 horribly tiresome. -
11 out of 13 people found this review helpful
You'll love it or hate it
Absolutley fantastic- for me this is what the big screen is all about. The visual are brilliant and the film for me has the under tones of a psychological horror. Some of the sound used in the film is extremely harrowing. If you watch this film you will either get bored after the first 10 minutes or you'll already start to like it. If your after a beginning a middle and an end with cheesy lines and loads of space action then this most defintley is NOT for you
Critics' reviews (4)
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This seminal sci-fi work from Stanley Kubrick is now considered by many to be less a supreme piece of cinema than an interesting, innovative product of the 1960s. But the memorable celluloid images still strongly resonate, such as the giant, vulnerable foetus floating through space and the tribe of apes painfully putting two and two together. It is Kubrick's haunting, stylised combination of music and visuals that gives 2001 its eerie, mesmerising quality, but even its most devoted disciples are hard pressed to tell you what it's actually about, and, as a slice of philosophy on how we all got started and where we ultimately go, the movie has little credence. However, it's a must-see if you never have, even though its visual impact is seriously hampered by the small screen.
-
A lengthy montage of brilliant model work and obscure symbolism, this curiosity slowly gathered commercial momentum and came to be cherished by those who used it as a trip without LSD.
-
"...A significant landmark in the history of cinema. It's also, as the original posters proclaimed, 'the ultimate trip'..." -- 5 out of 5 stars
-
A characteristically pessimistic account of human aspiration from Kubrick, this tripartite sci-fi look at... read more on Time Out
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2001 - A Space Odyssey - HD DVD Version
A four-million-year-old black monolith is discovered on the moon, and the government sends a team of scientists on a fact-finding mission while hiding the truth from the public. Later, another team is sent to Jupiter in a ship controlled by the perfect HAL 9000 computer to further investigate the ...
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- 2001 - A Space Odyssey - BLU-RAY Version
- Blu-Ray: £10.93
Free Delivery - RRP £24.49 (you save: 55%)
A four-million-year-old black monolith is discovered on the moon, and the government sends a team of scientists on a fact-finding mission while hiding the truth from the public. Later, another team ... -
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- 2001 - A Space Odyssey
- DVD: £4.93
Free Delivery - RRP £7.99 (you save: 38%)
A four-million-year-old black monolith is discovered on the moon, and the government sends a team of scientists on a fact-finding mission while hiding the truth from the public. Later, another team ... -
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