2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) review

 
(10 out of 10)

TECHNOLOGY-The fourth of Kubrick's favorite subjects as the DVD booklet has told me.

PLOT:This is divided into three "segments", if you will.
THE DAWN OF MAN-This tells of how early humans discovered tools, with the presence of a monolith to be explained later in the film.

We then switch to today where we are able to live in space stations and ships. A large crater is found on the moon and a team go to investigate what it is.
JUPITER MISSION I-This introduces our characters Dave Bowman (Keir Dullea) and Poole (Gary Lockwood), who are on a spacecraft bound for Jupiter to find suspected life. The spacecraft is controlled by a model of the new HAL-9000 computer (Douglas Rain). Whem Bowman and Poole think the computer is malfunctioning, they plant to shut it down, but does HAL agree with this?
JUPITER MISSION II-Not to spoil the ending, the mission to Jupiter ends up being successful and this is the trip into the planet's atmosphere and what is found there. This is split into several segments, such as Pulp Fiction is, and each is executed to the essence of perfection.

ACTING:There really weren't that many actors, but of what there was, the acting was really good. Dullea and Lockwood do a great job with their parts as well as Rain, considering he has to act like a lifeless computer.

SCORE:The score is composed of several pieces of classical music along with some chanting tracks. I loved the soundtrack through and through, especially the well-known Also Sprach Zarathustra.

EFFECTS:This is second to what the movie is all about. For the time this was made, the effects are beyond top-notch. Since space travel was fairly new, Kubrick had to imagine what Jupiter and space itself looked like. Do I even have to say it; Kubrick did this like no other man could! The effects I saw done blew my mind even as today's CG standards go.


CAMERAWORK:This is the first to what makes this movie work. The effects may have been mind-blowing, but they wouldn't have worked so well if it wasn't for Kubrick's harrowing camera style; not to mention the rest of the movie.

OTHER CONTENT:This movie purely blew my mind and fueled the cinephile in me. I loved everything about this. It was different, ground-breaking, fascinating, and overall of that beautiful. Most say all it is for most of the movie is objects movie across the screen slowly, but that's for suspense and to depict the wonder of the space Kubrick saw. I felt Kubrick so much in the movie, I'm surprised he wasn't breathing down my neck in spirit. I also got what he was trying to get through with the ape scene at the beginning: the human race always wants more and is always finding new technology and ways to do things whether it be good or bad. This is not for everybody, but it has the beauty, imagination, and it breaks the boundary of filmmaking.

OVERALL,an epic Kubrick film with a perfect segmented plot, really good acting, classical soundtrack, mind-blowing effects, harrowing camerawork, and the true feeling of a beautiful movie.