2001 - A Space Odyssey [Blu-ray]

There is no other word for it. Any amount of hyperbole would simply be insulting. Hyperbole is what things like this are made for.

The film is a feat of visual effects that even in this day is frightening and spellbinding in how REAL it looks. Even the best CGI today can make something appear real, but it will ALWAYS just be on the very finest edge of artificiality. Virtually no part of this film ever slid through that edge. Every part appeared insanely real.

The prelude, "Dawn of Man" is itself a little film that brought me to tears with how amazingly, artfully done it is.

The sequence in which Heywood Floyd and the rest gaze upon the Monolith on the moon was one that kept me frozen stiff in fear and wonder like no other work of art has ever done.

Every single word spoken by HAL9000, coated in the thickest layers of smooth, deadpan articulation, is a horror of might and machine, and HAL's end is more heartwrenching and gutwrenching than most other movie death's for human characters.

The entire "postlude", Jupiter and infinity, was an all-out display of technology and wordless storytelling that seems at first to step into the realm of the "pretentious artsy indy film made by an arrogant art student", and then destroys any inclinations towards that notion, and becomes the very avatar that those pretentious art students aim to recreate with their seeming randomness of images and ideas.


I was in tears for so many portions of the film. Not from joy, not from sorrow, but from the sheer emotional power the film had that I have never seen from any film, book, play, television show, or game ever. Epic.

I'm not sure there is any point in saying this is either a great or a boring movie. From the first day it opened in theaters, people were either on one side or the other. I think it takes re-viewings and some thought to appreciate it. If someone wants to just sit down, turn off their brain, and be entertained (nothing wrong with that) this is not the movie for them.

If someone wants to appreciate this movie, I have two recommendations. #1-don't watch this on anything other than a widescreen TV (at least 42" but larger is better), prefererably Blu-Ray; this is a very visual movie and a lot is lost if you don't have the correct presentation #2-read the book or listen to the audiobook; the book filled in some gaps that helped me understand the movie.

Again, if that is too much trouble, this probably isn't the movie for you.

Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa, wait a minute. This is the legendary movie I heard about? Wrong! Here come the spoilers all.

In the beginning, the plot is relatively okay. Scientists want to discover how man begins. Okay, I get that. But as this movie progresses, it gets SLOWER AND SLOWER AND EVEN MORE BOOORING!!! Finally the end comes after 2 long hours of boring. Sociopathic computer is shut down. What happens next? Does astronaut go back to Earth? NO! he finds a big black monoloth thing and goes through a half an hour color scene. Then he is old. Then he is older, then he's older, then he's a baby. Thats about it.

Recommended? Yeah, if your STONED you might like this movie. You would have to be REALLY stoned to understand it. Do not buy this movie, you will not like it.

Make no mistake, "2001- A Space Odyssey" is a great movie. The story, special effects, music score, and cinematography hold up more than 40 years after it was made. The technology, fashions, and clothing styles are somewhat dated, but that is easy to overlook.

The movie does move very slowly and is not "action packed", but the story is very compelling and is very good Sci-Fi. A lot of time is spent building the mood and "color" of each scene, with some of the most outstanding cinematography ever put on film.

We bought this movie for our 13 and 16 year olds to see. "2001" has become an iconic part of our culture, with reference to it in everything for comics, sitcoms, novels, and other movies, so we thought it was important to exposes them to it. They thought it was very strange and took too long to get to the point, but liked the movie overall. They also immediately "got" some of the references and jokes they had seen in other shows. I really enjoyed seeing it again myself but had forgotten just how long it really is.

We bought the Blu-Ray version and were very impressed with the quality of the transfer. It was truly outstanding video and audio.

Recommended!

Well this movies is supposed to be legendary, maybe you gotta see it in the theater and maybe you need to be really stoned to appreciate it. I have read the novel and I really enjoyed it, Stanley Kubrick just made this movie so so so so boring. It is the slowest movie I've ever seen. Read the book instead. I wanted to like the movie but just could not. The special effects and all that are amazing to this day though.