2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
★★★★ — 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Stanley Kubrick made 2001: A Space Odyssey between Dr. Strangelove (1964) and A Clockwork Orange (1971), at a point where his standing with MGM was strong enough to give him unusual creative latitude over a project that took roughly four years to complete. The screenplay was developed in close collaboration with Arthur C. Clarke, working partly from Clarke's short story "The Sentinel" (1951), and the two wrote the source novel and the film script more or less in parallel. Shot primarily at MGM-British Studios in Borehamwood, the production pioneered a range of practical special effects techniques that would influence science fiction filmmaking for decades. The $12 million budget was considered a substantial risk for a film with no conventional narrative drive, and early critical reception was genuinely divided, though it became a considerable box office success, particularly among younger audiences caught up in the cultural upheaval of the late 1960s.
I get it. I really do. There was a time where I had this on a pedestal as an untouchable masterpiece. And in many ways, it still is. It’s an art piece more than a film. The atmosphere, the pacing (or lack of it), the ambiguity, it’s all deliberate. It’s philosophical, visually stunning, and HAL remains one of the most chillingly calm villains in cinema history. That voice alone is pure menace. I love the themes it tackles, the evolution of mankind, artificial intelligence, cosmic insignificance... the stuff that sparks a dozen pub debates. But here's the thing: it doesn’t quite hold up in the same way it once did. It’s slow, painfully slow at times. There are sequences that drag long after they’ve made their point. It could’ve been trimmed by an hour and lost none of its brilliance. Still, I’ll never fault it for ambition. It's a film that aimed for the stars, literally and figuratively. A milestone in cinema, just a little dulled by time.
Rating: ★★★★ | Year: 1968 | Watched: 2025-04-10
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