Rent 2001: A Space Odyssey on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: Stanley Kubrick (screenplay by), Arthur C. Clarke (screenplay by)
Directed by: Stanley Kubrick
Starring: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester
Rated: G
Watch the trailer
Plot
After discovering a mysterious artifact buried beneath the Lunar surface, humankind sets off on a quest to find its origins with help from intelligent supercomputer H.A.L. 9000.
Verdict
It's an epic journey spanning centuries. It's masterfully crafted from production design to direction and pacing. This covers a lot in the run time, from prehistoric humans to the next evolution of humankind. The movie is rich in detail and wide open for interpretation. It can be very sparse, masterfully using silence to convey the isolation in space. Few films have such a clear direction and intention. The movie is self assured and deliberate. It's a sci-fi classic for a reason.
Watch it.
Review
I've seen this movie before. After my first viewing I was completely enthralled. I searched for other interpretations to see how mine compared. What does this movie mean? The movie allows for numerous conclusions, but ultimately it's the evolution of humankind. The monoliths mark the next iteration or incarnation of humans.
It's an ambitious movie starting with neanderthals first discovering that bones can be used as tools. From there the movie jumps into the future where man has perfected tools to create HAL 9000, a super computer that can mimic human emotions. A monolith has been found on the moon, pointing towards Jupiter. A ship is sent to explore. The monolith is similar to the one the neanderthals discovered. Each time a monolith appears, the species takes a leap forward.
The production design looks great. The minimal design choices and the fact this is in the future means the movie doesn't look dated. The cinematography capitalizes on the look to create amazing images.
The pace of the movie captures the isolation of space. This uses silence to great effect. There is no sound in space and the movie uses classical music to fill the void, sometimes all we hear is breathing. For a movie that moves at a much slower pace than the average movie, the tension still remains high. When HAL 9000 the perfect computer makes a mistake, Bowman and Poole are forced to considered how to proceed with the mission. The HAL unit has never made a mistake. They completely rely on HAL, but their faith would be misplaced if they can't trust him.
The movie is broken into three segments. Prehistoric human, modern human, and then future human. Another obelisk is found at Jupiter and that begins a ten minute sequence of sight and sound. For a movie that's been sparse, this is an indulgent and deliberate scene. Bowman is trapped in a room where time behaves differently. Are the creators of the monolith observing him or have humans traveled beyond typical perception? I like to think it's the latter.
We see humans create the first tool, a very simple jaw bone. Then we see the ultimate tool, HAL, fail. Humans have gone as far as they can, reaching space. The next step for humans is a new form that doesn't require tools. The first evolution was of skill, the second of form. The monoliths act as a marker. I don't know whether the markers force an evolution by intervention or whether they coincide with the next step. I think they're markers. The monolith at Jupiter can only be reached when humans have developed the technology for space flight. There's no way to reach it earlier. The star baby is an evolution of form, humans has moved beyond the physical limitations of a body.
2001 is the journey of humans, depicting before and after modern man. It's a movie that heartily lends itself to questions of 'what if' and 'what does it mean.'
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