2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Introduction

One of the greatest movies ever made without a shadow of a doubt is 2001: A Space Odyssey directed by Stanley Kubrick. In my humble opinion, this is probably Kubrick's greatest movie and along with the iconic theme music and some incredible shots, this movie gets its own place on the list of greatest films. Many lists of the past and present feature this film as one of the best ever made and even though there's a lot of question about what is actually happening in some parts of the film, nobody can argue against the fact that this movie is an experience rather than just passive viewing.

Plot

The plot is complex and intricate. It starts with the monolith at the beginning of time, pretty much the scene that generation z will only recognise from the latter film of Barbie (2023) *laughs*. Honestly, I think that the the beginning pays homage to space travel in which nobody really knew what they looking for. It also pays homage to the older space travel films that were more stereotypical. More or less, 2001: A Space Odyssey has come to be associated with one of the greatest space travel films of all time. But that's not all...

Aboard this doomed vessell is HAL, a dystopian overlord and piece of machinery who allows and does not allow the crew to do certain things, controlling their every move. It acts as a warning to our future developments in technology and asks that age old question about what may happen when the AI takes over and if it ever does, how we might react and attempt to get back our humanity.

Playing with the minds of the viewers, this film makes a great argument for what free will actually is and whether we really have any at all. As we are rocked back between the beginning of time, the weird star child scene and that monolith just appearing everywhere for some reason, Stanley Kubrick also makes a great film about what free will may actually be and whether this film is apocalytpic or a new beginning for humanity is entirely up to the will of the viewer.

Appraisals and Awards

At the Academy Awards, 2001: A Space Odyssey ended up being nominated for Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Art Direction and Best Visual Effects - with the film only winning that final one in the list. At the BAFTAs it took home even more awards including Best Cinematography and finally, it took home multiple international awards, including the David di Donatello Awards 'Best Foreign Film' Award. Therefore, from what we can understand, there was a lot that this film was robbed of maybe because people didn't fully understand it at the time.

Legacy

Stanley Kubrick made the ultimate science fiction movie, and it is going to be very hard for someone to come along and make a better movie, as far as I'm concerned. On a technical level, it [Star Wars] can be compared, but personally I think that 2001 is far superior.

George Lucas, 1977

2001: A Space Odyssey has an interesting legacy with nobody really knowing exactly what it is about except for the director Stanley Kubrick, but it has still been appearing on lists everywhere as one of the greatest films ever made. In lists by the AFI, the BFI, the National Society of Film Critics, Sight and Sound, the Village Voice, the Guardian, The BBC, and many more - 2001: A Space Odyssey is usually regarded as one of the top essential films to watch for any film fan. It was also selected by the Library of Congress in 2010 for the National Film Registry. Honestly, that seems a bit late for me as well, I wish it was selected earlier.

My Personal Opinion

I remember watching this movie for the first time in my early teens and though I thought it was visually stunning, I did not really understand what was going on. I watched it many times between then and the time I went to university and though I still do not think I have understood all there is to understand, I have a far better grasp on what the movie is about now in comparison to fifteen odd years' ago.

When it comes to the visual quality of the movie, I have always been astounded by how progressive this is in the world of filmmaking. It not only has eye-popping colours at a time where colour was so important to use properly as it was still relatively young, but it also has some incredible sounds - especially the montage of the monolith at the beginning of time at the start of the movie.

It is one of those stand-out films for me and though I will never really understand, nor would I claim to entirely, I think its special because of its artistic qualities if anything. It has a wonderful use of everything it takes to make a great movie, giving Sci-Fi a special and serious place in film history.

Conclusion

All in all, I think that the importance of 2001: A Space Odyssey is a little bit misunderstood. I think people look up to it, but nobody really knows what it means. Therefore, instead of just being a great film, we should put it on a list of films that we will never fully understand and, because it's fun to try to figure it out - we don't really want to.