2001: A Space Odyssey(1968)- User Reviews

The art of film and theatre is unique. It generates energy, energy which can make an audience laugh or cry. But to do this, it needs individuals to bring something to it. The actors must bring the characters to life. The writer must create a storyline that will try the characters. The director must oversee it and make sure it all comes into place. It is for these reasons that 2001: A Space Odyssey is one of the worst movies ever made. The storyline is about as thin as wax paper and the characters are shallow and poor. No, don't give me that rubbish about the philosophy and how that's not the point. Yes, it's about mankind evolving, but that takes about five minutes of the two and a half hour film and should NEVER be the main focus of a movie. I've seen works with much better philosophies that rely on story and characterization. The fact is, people just give this movie too much credit. The movie is also too realistic (and in the wrong areas). We all know that it would take twenty minutes to launch an escape pod, but that doesn't mean you should actually show it. For example, there's a sequence in which Dave has to get the ship's black box on the outside of the ship, so he boards an escape pod to get it. It shows the pod slowly edge along the ship for twenty minutes (yes, I counted) before he gets it. Then, after a five minute dialogue scene, he goes to put it back. I wish I were kidding. Later, we are subjected to twenty minutes of flashing lights, an experience that felt like a bad acid trip. The opening shows still pictures for ages before showing men in poor ape costumes hitting each other. Let me clear this up. I like slow movies, but this is just ridiculous. The camera work for the first half of the movie looks like it was filmed by a group of thirteen-year-olds on a school trip, but suddenly becomes good in the second half. I wondered why this movie was so popular, and then discovered that it was nothing more than a prostitution of this art form. By that I mean it was only created as propaganda to make people support the space race. Give this a miss and go watch Scooby- Doo. It will give you a much greater sense of enlightenment.