2001: Review

Fig 1.

2001: A Space Odyssey
Directed by: Stanley Kubrick
Starring: Garry Lockwood, Keir Dullea
Year of Release: April 2 1968

One of the most influential science fiction movie of the last century, 2001: A Space Odyssey is a technological masterpiece.

"No little part of his effect comes from the music." - Roger Ebert, 1997

This film has very little dialogue, but in the place of this missing element of the film Stanley Kubrick had commissioned the musical talents of Alex North. Many of the classical pieces composed by him help give the film a very calming feeling while the visuals directed by Kubrick would give the audience a feeling of unease. This effect gave the viewer a very weird and eerie feeling as if to remind us not to get too comfortable.

Fig 2.

"The film, in fact, might be best described as a factual philosophical speculation-" - The Gaurdian 2010

 The film itself does seem to make a running commentary on the actions of humans starting all the way back in at the dawn of humans and going so far into the future that humans have managed to develop self aware AI that are capable of making their own decisions independent of human actions. In both these instances we are shown two separate and very different beings capable of thought and out on a mission and the mission was always the same with man, to kill. This is shown in the beginning when the first ape to discover how to use tools decided to use them to murder another ape and again deep in the future when the AI created by future man goes rogue and decides to terminate the lives of all the crew on board the ship.

Fig 3.

"-is a delicate, poetic meditation on the ingenuity -- and folly -- of mankind." - Rotten Tomatoes

 Through the film the actions of the humans have this sort of echoing feeling, calling back to the time when they were still apes having only just discovered tools and their bewilderment at the sudden appearance of a large black cuboid. The humans had the same reactions depicting them as still vastly intellectually inferior to the creators of the cuboid although when the humans did find it they were no longer just on earth but  were now capable of space travel and were conducting a mission of the lunar surface displaying the changes had happened to us over the course of time.

Image List:

• Figure 1: Poster, https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQsfgWfqVrCxHRI2Xx0gdawhJUU8YhxOI1uWBTzuci-M_EWUSW_dQ
• Figure 2: Screenshot,  http://img.blu-raydefinition.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/BDDefinition-2001-4-1080.jpg?1902c1
• Figure 3: Screenshot, http://basementrejects.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/2001-a-space-odyssey-1968-astronauts-moon-picture-monolith-photograph-review.jpg
  

Bibliography:
(Roger Ebert, 1997) http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-2001-a-space-odyssey-1968
(The Guardian, 2010) http://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/oct/21/space-odyssey-review-science-fiction
(Rotten Tomatoes) http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1000085-2001_a_space_odyssey/