2001: A Space Odyssey Review

Alright! Today I'm taking a look at one of the most influential, most critically acclaimed movies ever - 2001: A Space Odyssey.


I saw this having no idea what it would be about. I knew some minor pop culture staples, like HAL and the space baby, but I had no idea about anything else.
And here I am, a wiser man.

2001 was really weird. Like, really, really weird. Like, it devoted a solid 10 minutes of the film to trippy hallucinations so the 60s stoners would watch it.

The film also seemed to barely have a plot. It was a bunch of slightly interconnected scenarios about the Monoliths, but you don't meet the main character until nearly an hour into the film, the first 20 minutes are about apes learning how to kill (Thanks to the Monolith), and the 40 minutes after that is boring space shots and politics and what is ultimately a pretty edgy set up for an edgy scene that goes nowhere.



Like, this is the approximately the plot of the movie:

First 20 minutes: Apes learn how to kill thanks to the Monolith
Next 34 minutes: Space politics and establishing shots
Next hour: HAL and Dave
Next 10 minutes: Trippy space shots
Next 20 minutes: The Monolith turns Dave into a baby

It's 2h 30 minutes long, and probably 20 minutes of that is establishing shots. Just space shots. They're cool to look at, but I don't need 20 minutes of them.


Also, this movie is very slow. Ultimately, I could probably edit this down to an hour and a half. All the set up with the apes was cool, but somewhat unnecessary. Especially when you introduce the Monolith in such a fascinating way and then never talk about it again. The space politics are very unnecessary. It introduces some cool concepts, but that's where they leave it.

Most of the film is strung together by the Monolith. It's what the apes learn from, it's why they go to the moon, and it's why the guy turns into a space baby. But why?

I dunno. The Monoliths are never explained.

I would say the best thing about this film is the hour you get with Hal 9000, one of the coolest villains I've ever seen in a movie. This is the OG good robot that goes bad (Skynet, the Sentinels, Auto, Ultron).
And the way that he goes bad here really is awesome.
And I honestly get chills from Hal. He's such an evil robot, I love it. Dave is pretty cool, too.

I would also say that I skipped a lot of this movie. Maybe I don't get the "Full" experience from doing that, but I don't want to sit through 10 minutes of acid trips.

Perhaps the greatest thing about the movie (Other than Hal) is the special effects. The special effects blew my mind. This movie, made in 1968, looks better than movies made in the 80s and even today. They had zero gravity sequences and running on ceilings before CGI. It's insane to watch this movie just for that. Stanley Kubrick knew what he was doing with that.

Perhaps the thing that baffles me most is how this is called one of the greatest movies of all time. It was good, but it has so many faults that critics slam movies for. Multiple unrelated sideplots, setups that don't go anywhere, and an overreliance on special effects over plot.

So much of this movie you can skip without impacting the story. It might change the experience, but you would understand the story.



Critics also say the movie is influential. That's true. It's very influential. I saw it and I saw where so many popular sci-fi movies got their roots from.

Overall Opinion: 7/10. "While an interesting premise, cutting edge special effects, and one of the greatest sci-fi villains of all time certainly are draws, so much of this film is just boring establishing shots and unrelated subplots that it really bogs the film down."