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Well, everyone we're nearing the long and crazy end of the Stanley Kubrick movie watching journey. And for granted I do feel a little sad though kind of relieved that this journey is coming to an end because I don't know if I can keep this going for another two-ish years. So, now that we're done with all of the Kubrick films that I've not seen, now I have recap the Kubrick movies I have seen and 2001 was one of those films that I have watched but yet don't quite understand by the final frame, although do give this film a tone of credit in the end.
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.
I believe the last time I watched 2001 was most certainly in the early 2010's or 2011, could possibly be 2012 either way somewhere in the early 2010's and at that time I never quite grasped 2001 as well as understood the movie it was most something that I probably missed as well as may have slept through the movie. Either way the film alone I never quite understood as to why this film is better than Star Wars in the AFI top ten Science Fiction films. Now being old and somewhat wise, well not all wise if you catch my meaning, I have to give this film a ton of credit as well as understanding this films full potential as to why this film is an important film in terms of Science Fiction films fully developing into a artistic cinema and if you take a look through time between fifties and early sixties and even the matinee serials from the early thirties or forties with some of the old school Flash Gordon, all of those science fiction films we're okay but were all mediocre trash and a lot of them included alien invasion or Cold War Paranoia. And so, when 2001: A Space Odyssey came into light as well as release this was the first movie that took the seriousness of showing the futuristic world as well as showing real spaceships and actual space colony on the Moon and a lot of the production value is really impressive if you take it see the film for what it was back in the late sixties by the time of the film’s release, and especially the iconic A.I in Hal 9000 whose both great and scary at the same time. So, a ton of this movies credit is Kubrick taking the Science Fiction genre to a whole new level in film and for sure you can say the same with Gene Roddenberry in the Star Trek series in the early sixties, but if we didn't have 2001, we wouldn't have the Star Trek movies be transitioned into Big Screen. And even with a ton of the Ships you know, without these iconic ships or space suits we wouldn't have Star Wars, Alien or even Close Encounters of the Third Kind, so, in all fairness a lot of 2001 is responsible for a ton of the iconic science fiction films be brought to light as well as Kubrick showing studios that "hey, we can do this and the camera work and visual effects, are their" and speaking of Kubrick the way he's able to put the camera from a ton of these amazing shots from like the pen floating in space, they actually taped a pen to a see through glass and rotate it, but even the exercise scene were either Dr. Bowman or Dr. Poole are doing that awesome jogging sideways it's so amazing that I still have questions on how they're able to capture that or able to put the camera in the right place it's just so incredible and I still want to know how they're able to pull that off and this film alone is another great example as to Kubrick being a head of his time from film noir to political satire, him doing a science fiction movie shows that he's once step ahead of everyone else and more importantly a true pioneer for film directing and one of the many reasons as to why he's a true artist. Now with all the pros I can say about 2001, there are some cons I have with the movie and a lot of it has to do with the story of these alien monoliths as well as using both the monoliths and relying so much on the A.I. machines at the same time of the movie, and what I assume what 2001 is, is human evolution the struggles of A.I and the cosmos, but the main problem I have with the film is that we don't know a whole lot of detail on what these Alien Monoliths are or why their watching earth and especially the human race. Now the A.I. story line makes more sense to me than the monoliths because yeah, it's a great theme of us humans relying way to much of technology and you can see that through many of the props as well as the monitors you see in the movie and even when the computer begins to take over the world and really you can use these types of themes but at times you can't have both, either that or you have to give at least some back story on the aliens. Now if you haven't seen the ending to 2001 a short nutshell Dr. Bowman is being experimented and then becomes a space baby and there are interview clips of Kubrick explaining the ending and I can get it, in terms of what he's explaining but the scene the drives me crazy is, we find a monolith in Jupiter, Bowman is of course driving the ship and then we don't get context of him going into one of the pods and then traveling through the worm hole, and at first I felt like I must of missed something or was about to fall asleep but no that's basically how that happens and for me personally sure I can get the ending, but can't you at least have a scene where Bowman is going into the Pod and traveling through the worm hole? At least something that would make sense, now I don't know if Kubrick and this was during the space race between U.S. and Russia I don't know if he was trying to examine the human race pushing way to much of technology or alien life, and granted we can make tons of themes to it but at the end of the day, there's still no proof of alien life in the solar system or aliens trying to make contact on earth and this has a lot to do with both Andy Weir's The Martian, and there is now sense of Alien life so, basically Weir proves that there’s no alien life and even if there is alien life they could be watching us like we're a reality television moreover just enjoying us being so incompetent in terms of government furthermore preventing war as well as trying to sustain peace, for which they don't really want to invade earth because they would look at us as useless people that b***h about everything that's not necessary a big deal, now for sure you can argue with me all you want and this is for the liberals to come and complain but, I just think the Aliens are watching us as if planet Earth is a reality television as well as look at us as a joke. Of all the pros and cons I can talk about 2001, this film gives me a full understanding as well as a ton of respect for A Space Odyssey, it's a science fiction film that still stands the test of time and really pushed the Sci-Fi genre into a respectable movie watching experience that was a pioneer to such great Sci-Fi films as Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Alien would use even into the eighties, and I would most certainly still watch 2001, for its great camera work as well as its incredible visuals of space and if you’re a fan of Science Fiction, I would highly recommend watching 2001 if you have Turner Classic Movies or HBO Max. And so, the Kubrick top thirteen is almost coming into place wonder which will be my top thirteen best Kubrick films well just have to find out, but I still have one last movie to watch hope you’re excited for the full list.
