Movie review: 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

• October 20, 2006
• James Skemp
• dvd / movie

While it's true I probably should have watched 2001: A Space Odyssey a long time ago, I've just gotten around to watching it.  Unfortunately, perhaps I should have watched it sooner and have been done with it.

While visually stunning, I'm having a hard time finding any substance behind the movie that I can really grasp.  All-in-all, I've given 2001: A Space Odyssey a generous three stars, since while I'm sure it was amazing when it first came out, it's, I hate to say it, kind of boring.

Mind you, the movie plays well enough.  More music then spoken word, visually stimulating at every turn, these elements all end up making the movie drone on and on.  In fact, everything else is down-played so as to seem completely beside the point.

(Spoilers follow.)

The death of not one, but four people appears to bring some human emotion to the film, only to present two machines squaring off against each other.  What could be used to show a very human quality is instead turned into simply a convenient way for there to be one character remaining.

(Spoilers end.)

The end suggests that some great idea will be presented, but instead mere illusions are presented to the viewer with music that is now banging around our heads, creating a very unpleasant aching of the head.

Again, a generous three stars, for this movie.  At multiple times during the show I thought of other movies that I'd rather be watching including Solaris (2002) and Dark Star (1974) ...

Rated: G
2 hr 28 min
1968