Inscrutable space science-fiction as cinematic art
The discovery of an ancient extraterrestrial monolith on the Moon leads to a mission to Jupiter, but the astronauts have unexpected complications with their vessel’s onboard computer, HAL 9000. William Sylvester plays an official of US Astronautics in the first hour while Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood play the two functioning astronauts in the second half.
Created by Stanley Kubrick (director/writer) and Arthur C. Clarke (writer), "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968) is an artistic sci-fi film about human evolution, advanced technology, the wonders of space, the routineness of space travel, artificial intelligence and the mystery of extraterrestrial life. It mixes elements of “Planet of the Apes,” which debuted over six weeks earlier, with aspects of “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” which came out eleven years later and was obviously influenced by this one-of-a-kind movie.
It begins with the “dawn of man” as a curious introduction before jumping forward to the 21st Century, which has been called the longest flash-forward in cinematic history. The depictions of space travel and life-in-space feel wholly authentic.
But “2001” is peculiar in that it rejects traditional techniques of narrative cinema and is often a nonverbal experience, which leaves some viewers in awe and others bored. It’s not about conventional thrills, but rather disquieting awe. It’s not easy entertainment, but meditative, transcendent art. The 1985 sequel, “2010: The Year We Make Contact,” is more standard and less ambiguous yet a worthy companion piece.
The soundtrack mixes classical compositions, e.g. “Also Sprach Zarathustra” by Richard Strauss, with four creepy modernistic compositions by György Ligeti. The parts of the movie that utilize the latter pieces really evoke an unsettling sense of the unknown.
My favorite part is the astronauts’ exchange with HAL, which involves almost an hour of the runtime and is the only part of the film that generates a low-key sense of suspense.
Personally, I don’t believe that humankind began as apes (rolling my eyes). But, even if this were true, where did the apes come from? Did they just spontaneously manifest by accident? If so, when? How? Biogenesis is a scientific axiom meaning “life proceeds from life.” So what life form originally created the apes or the simple organisms that supposedly evolved into apes?
The film runs 2 hours, 29 minutes.
GRADE: A-/B+