2001: A Space Odyssey (film)
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2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 epic science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick. The screenplay was written by Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, and was inspired by Clarke's short story The Sentinel.
It stars Keir Dullea as Dave Bowman, Gary Lockwood as Frank Poole, William Sylvester as Dr. Heywood R. Floyd and Douglas Rain as HAL9000.
It first premiered in the Uptown Theatre on April 2, 1968 with Paramount Cartoons Studios' Fractured Fables short "My Daddy, the Astronaut". It then premiered in the United States on April 3, 1968 and in the United Kingdom on May 15, 1968. In December 7, 1984, a sequel named 2010: The Year We Make Contact was released.
The film received diverse critical responses, ranging from those who saw it as darkly apocalyptic to those who saw it as an optimistic reappraisal of the hopes of humanity. The film is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential films ever made. In 1991, it was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
Plot
An imposing black structure provides a connection between the past and the future in this enigmatic adaptation of a short story by revered sci-fi author Arthur C. Clarke. When Dr. Dave Bowman (Keir Dullea) and other astronauts are sent on a mysterious mission, their ship's computer system, HAL, begins to display increasingly strange behavior, leading up to a tense showdown between man and machine that results in a mind-bending trek through space and time.
Why It's Full of Stars
- Stanley Kubrick's landmark epic pushed the envelope of narrative and special effects to create an introspective look at technology and humanity. As technological achievement, it was a quantum leap beyond Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers serials, although it used many of the same fundamental techniques. Steven Spielberg called 2001 "the Big Bang" of his filmmaking generation. It's the precursor to Andrei Tarkovsky's Solaris (1972), Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind and George Lucas's Star Wars (both 1977), as well as the current digital revolution. At the time of its release, 2001: A Space Odyssey created a nationwide stir and it pioneered Sci-Fi movie making, in large part due to its willful opacity.
- Not only is it very faithful to the 1951 short story "The Sentinel", it expands the story massively.
- Each of the different shifts of the movie give a nice little representation of the evolution of humanity and how it will continue to evolve even further in the distance future:
- The Dawn of Man scene during the beginning gives in a representation of ancient life (to be more specific, a time when humans haven't been evolved yet and are still primate apes), as it involves apes Lea and the ending of the movie representing future life, as it invovles Dave being reborn as Star Child, an entity that doesn't any technological device to survive in space, which represents future life with rich possibilities ahead of it.
- The pacing, despite its issues (see the first bad quality), is wonderful.
- All of the actor's performances are outstanding, especially from Keir Dullea and William Sylvester.
- The film notably uses Richard Strauss's "Also Sprach Zarathustra", which is used fantastically in the movie as it fits very well with the theme of evolution and space. It is notably used very well during the opening scene involving the sun rising from earth, which gives it an exciting way of introducing the movie and it gives a simple metaphor for the film's narrative of the evolution of mankind, it also became one the most famous openings to any Sci-Fi movie. Another scene that uses the song very well is in the Dawn of Man scene involving the apes learning to use bones as weapons, which has a fitting cue to it because it represents the beginning of humanity starting to evolve itself and it's usage of the song is admittedly quite tense too.
- The movie essentially popularised the song, with many recognising "Also Sprach Zarathustra" as the theme song from 2001: A Space Odyssey and many movies, TV shows and commercials involving space and/or evolution started to use the song. It's even to the point where the song in used in over 289 pieces of media according to IMDb.[1]
- The cinematography is breathtaking and the camera angles are stunning and have aged extremely well, with many of the green screens cuts of the space stations and the Star Child at the end of the movie are edited very well, especially considering the fact they were used as props as opposed to CGI. Even for 1960s standards, this is very impressive, and it shows how timeless the movie is.
- The editing cuts are also very good as well:
- The most notable one is when the ape throws a bone in the air, and it fades from the bones flying in the air to a space station flying in space.
- Another notable one is during the scene where the apes discover the monolith, it cuts to a shot of the monolith with the sun and moon rising above it, which is also similar to the opening shot of the movie involving the sun rising from earth, which is an alignment of the audience, moon, earth and sun.
- The props that were used for the movie are all well-done and they do not come across as poorly aged or fake like most movies that would normally use props would, as they both look like what they're supposed to be, with the Star Child in particular looking amazing because it's designed in a way where it looks like a real baby, and it's used very well in the scene involving Dave being reborn into a Star Child. In fact, the usage of the props have aged very well it's time and they still hold up, even in the 21st century.
- It has a really interesting idea for story, in which a group of researchers from the future trying to find the origins of planet Earth.
- Amazing soundtrack, especially considering a lot of the track's composed of existing music that's composed into the "narrative" very well, like the aforementioned uses of "Also Sprach Zarathustra" and "Blue Danube", to the point where both songs are now often used in many shows and movies that involve space in it.
- There some iconic and unforgettable quotes, with some of them even being the most famous movie quotes of all time, such as "Open the Pod Bay Doors, HAL!", "My God, it's full of stars!", and "I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't let you do that…".
- Tons of memorable and well-executed scenes, like the iconic scene where a bunch of apes discover a black monolith, followed by the aforementioned scene where the ape discovers that he can make a leap in evolution with a eureka moment, which is the scene where they discover that they can use bones as weapons, and the ape uses the bone to strike the other remaining bones on the ground, implying that humanity is starting to evolve.
- The sets for the space stations look fantastic, and they really do give that futuristic and scientistic feel to it. The set for the final scene in the voice where Dave Bowman is in a trapped room is also well-done too.
- Ahead-of-its-time special effects, most notably the "Star Gate" scene. It was stated that Kubrick spent more than two years creating his vision of outer space. It's clear that hard work has been shown and paid off as a final result.
- Extraordinary accuracy of the Earth and other planets, especially considering it was a time when the only images of Earth from space were low-resolution images instead of ones like the famous Blue Marble.
- The film also pokes fun at the future outer-space expansion of such franchises as Howard Johnsons and Hilton Hotels.
- HAL-9000 is a delusional robot and an awesome antagonist who is trying to protect himself from David so he can continue controlling the ship. In fact, he becomes more intimidating after killing Poole and it's debatable over whether or not Dave is going to win against him.
- He's also a figment to how technology could possibly overpower humans, as HAL9000 is a representation of a robot that was supposed to be built to be the perfect computer for human beings, but eventually malfunctions and turns evil by taking their throne and overpowering the humans, before Dave kills him by unplugging him.
- The ending is very interesting; Dave Bowman ends up in a trapped room, he ends up getting older and older in each cut, up until the monolith appears while is laying in bed. He extends out his hand for the monolith, and then he gets rebirthed into a Star Child. It really succeeds in making you think about the possibilities of the future and it gives a great representation of a being that doesn't need technology to survive in the uncharted space.
- The scene also uses "Also Sprach Zarathustra" during it too, and much like the aforementioned opening and ape scene, it is used very well.
- It's a virtual silent film, as it forces viewers to concentrate on the hypnotic blend of music and image. It often seems like a brain-teasing exercise in analogies: bone is to HAL as HAL is to monolith, etc. Its Escher-and Magritte-like images of Discovery crewmen Dave Bowman and Frank Poole defying spatial logic as they move around inside the spacecraft, and the film's many ellipses and alignments, suggest the topsy-turvy, free-floating, free associative landscape of a dream. The mirror images also help with the illusion.
- In fact, there is no dialogue throughout the first 25 minutes of the movie and the last three minutes of the film, which helps with also helps with getting hypnotic with the blend of the music and image.
Bad Qualities
- Since it's slow-paced, accompanied by the running time of 142 minutes, the film can be boring sometimes (See more in the "Reception" header below).
- Despite all of the film's strengths, the characters are pretty bland and the final image of the "Space Child" reaches for, but doesn't quite achieve, a metaphysical high note. On the flip side, Bowman and Poole being one-note makes it possible for HAL to appear more human than the actual humans.
- The celebrated "Star Gate" sequence is impressive as technical achievement and light show, but it's more conceptual than visceral.
Reception
Critical Reception
2001: A Space Odyssey received universal acclaim from audiences and critics alike, with many praising it for the cinematography, the interesting representation human evolution, the musical score, and it's piorneering movie making that essentially revolutionised movie making with the Sci-Fi genre. Along with Full Metal Jacket, A Clockwork Orange and The Shining, this has become one of Stanley Kubrick's well-known and highly praised films. It is influentual to many filmmakers, including Christopher Nolan, who restored the movie for its 2018 IMAX reissue. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 92% approval rating based on 114 reviews, with an average rating of 9.23/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "One of the most influential of all sci-fi films – and one of the most controversial – Stanley Kubrick's 2001 is a delicate, poetic meditation on the ingenuity – and folly – of mankind." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 84 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
The movie was nominated at the 41st Academy Awards for Best Director, Best Story and Screenplay, Best Art Direction and Best Special Visual Effects, whilst it lost Best Director and Best Art Direction to Oliver!, and Best Story and Screenplay to The Producers, it managed to win the award for Best Special Visual Effects.
Despite the positive reception, it was initially polarising at first, with some criticising it's low pacing and bland characters. One of the more critical reviewers being Pauline Kael, called this a monumentally unimaginative film.
Box Office
In its first nine weeks from 22 locations, it grossed $2 million in the United States and Canada and it has grossed $146 million across all releases from a $10.5 million budget, making it a box office hit.
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Reviews & Analysis
Trivia
- Shortly after the film released in theatres, Arthur C. Clarke developed a novelisation of the film.
- Since the release of 2001: A Space Odyssey, the movie has gotten a lot of speculation about the interpretation of the movie and on what it all meant, as both director and writer, Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke wanted to leave the film open to philosophical and allegorical interpretation.[2]
- The most common interpretation that most people see it is an allegory of human conception, evolution, birth and death. As the Dawn of Man scene seems to represent of the beginning stages of humanity, whilst the Star Child at the end often being seen as the next stage in evolution for humankind.
- Some have also seen the Dawn of Man scene as humankind being defined by violence, as it involves the apes learning how to use the bones as weapons, suggesting that humanity is defined by its startling capacity for violence.
- The Star Child scene at the end has also gotten an interpretation that it is supposed to represent a new heaven, in fact, some critics even felt that the Star Child appearing over Earth at the end was with it's intention of destroying it.
- HAL9000's portrayal has also gotten an interpretation that it's supposed to be a representation of the Frankenstein allegory, as HAL's existence is what seems to make him a monster, as he only likes killing people and going on murderous rampages.
- Some even see 2001: A Space Odyssey as a allegory for Nietzsche's Übermensch Theory, in which that a man is the bridge between ape and Übermensch (aka "Superman").
External links
2001: A Space Odyssey at the Internet Movie Database
2001: A Space Odyssey on Rotten Tomatoes
2001: A Space Odyssey on Metacritic