2001: A Space Odyssey

Review:

You can tell you’re dealing with one of the most influential films of all time when you know so much about it without actually having seen it. 2001: A Space Odyssey is a prime example (how often has that bone/spacecraft match cut been imitated and parodied since?), and even today its presence is still felt in cinema.

The film begins millions of years in the past, following a tribe of primitive apes in a desert wasteland as they discover the use of tools and weapons. We are then thrown far into the future, to an age of space travel and moon excavations, and then we leap forward once again to join a group of astronauts, including Dave Bowman (Dullea) and Frank Poole (Lockwood), on a mission to Jupiter: a mission overseen by the creepily ambiguous spacecraft computer HAL 9000 (voiced by Douglas Rain). The common thread linking these chapters is the presence of huge, black rectangular entities called monoliths. What it is that they represent is something you’ll have to find out…

Prepare for a journey through prehistoric turmoil, futuristic marvels and a world of artificial intelligence, executed by one of the most acclaimed directors of all time; Stanley Kubrick. Don’t be put off by the slow pacing of the film: its quiet sparseness accentuates a rich, glorious atmosphere as we follow mankind’s progress through time, making great technological – and evolutionary – leaps forward along the way. The film is classic science-fiction, and boasts some truly spaced-out special effects, most of which still hold up spectacularly well, considering that the film itself is over forty years old.

Iconic, enigmatic and ground-breaking, 2001: A Space Odyssey is a journey well worth taking, and will leave you with plenty of food for thought when the lights come up!

Michael Perry