Stanley Kubrick said of the film, "You're free to speculate as you wish about the philosophical and allegorical meaning of the film-and such speculation is one indication that it has succeeded in gripping the audience at a deep level-but I don't want to spell out a verbal road map for 2001 that every viewer will feel obligated to pursue or else fear he's missed the point". As such, we are left to fend for ourselves in our quest to unravel this trandescent film. 2001 is essentially a non-verbal experience, with about 40 minutes of dialogue in a 148 minute movie, and alienates many modern viewers by its slow pace. The film, at least on the simplest level, is about the evolution of mankind and his place in the universe, as well as technological enslavement. Kubrick's masterpiece is divided into four acts, linked by music, images, and a black monolith.
The film's first act details the dawn of man. We view beautiful shots of the African desert before we see a group of apes struggling to survive. One of them is killed in a sudden surprise attack by a leopard, and the rest of the group abandons their small water hole when a bigger group of apes scares them off. They take refuge in a small exposed rock crater. In a shocking scene, a huge black monolith has appeared overnight and the apes gather around it and make contact with it, set to Mozart's Requiem. Later, one ape suddenly discovers how a bone can be used as both a tool and a weapon, and soon the group is thriving. Did the Monolith somehow advance the evolution of the apes? Soon after this, they retake their water hole from the other group of apes with their new weapons. One ape triumphantly throws his bone in the air, and, in the most famous match cut in cinematic history, the scene shifts from the falling bone to a nuclear weapon orbiting Earth millions of years later.
This is the only act in the film without a title card, suggesting that humans are the same agressive animals as the apes. We view multiple satellites and such around Earth, before we see a dazzling space station, and a small shuttle traveling towards it, set to the Blue Danube Waltz. This goes on for about five minutes and is probably my favorite scene from the film. On the space station, we see Dr. Haywood Floyd, who is traveling to Clavius, a US moon outpost. Before departing, he meets up with some Russian scientists who telll him they have lost all contact with Clavius base and that no one has been able to get inside for the past ten days. They reveal their might be an epidemic at the base, but Floyd refuses to discuss the matter any further. The Blue Danube Waltz repeats as he travels to Clavius. On the base, he gives a briefing to the "council" and reveals that the epidemic is merely a cover story in order to maintain absolute secrecy, and congratulates them on their discovery. Floyd, along with a few other members of the council, travels by shuttle to an excavation site, where it turns out that the "discovery" is actually another monolith, buried on the moon four million years ago. In a striking image, he reaches out and touches it, again suggesting the connection between apes and humans. One photographer lets them pose for a photo, and while doing so they hear an ear piercing radio signal coming from the Monolith.
18 months later, the Discovery One is on a scientific voyage to Jupiter. The ship is operated by two pilots: Dave Bowman and Frank Poole, and the iconic HAL9000 computer, who is incapable of error and seems to have real genuine emotions. The three other scientists are in hibernation and are to be awaken upon their arrival at Jupiter. Bowman talks with HAL, who reveals that an AE-35 unit will fail in about 24 hours. In a tense scene, Bowman goes into space to retrieve the faulty unit. Back inside, they find nothing wrong with it, suggesting that HAL is going nuts, or planning to kill the crew. HAL suggests putting the unit back in its place and wait for it to fail, in order to determine the cause. Bowman and Poole discuss the matter in the privacy of a EVA pod, and decide to deactivate HAL if the unit doesn't fail. HAL, however, can read their lips and decides to act. Once Poole is replacing the unit in a spacewalk, HAL kills him by severing his oxygen tank. Bowman, not grabbing his helmet, activates an EVA pod and retrieves Poole's body, but not before HAL kills the scientists by terminating their life functions. HAl denies Bowman access to the ship, and Bowman decides his only way of surviving his going through the emergency airlock. He releases Poole's body into the void and shoots himslef out of the pod into the airlock, very quickly shutting the emergency hatch. He then moves through the ship and deactivates HAL, who expresses his pain and sings "Dasiy Bell". Afterwords, a pre recorded briefing from Floyd pops up, explaining that the Monolith's radio signal was aimed at Jupiter and they sent the Discovery One to investigate.
EYE: People are intrigued not only by the implications but the essence of the ending. Could you give us your own interpretation?
KUBRICK: I don't want to because I think that the power of the ending is based on the subconscious emotional reaction of the audience, which has a delayed effect. To be specific about it, certainly to be specific about what it's supposed to mean, spoils people's pleasure and denies them their own emotional reactions.
EYE: Can you be general about what you intended?
KUBRICK: Well, I can tell you what literally, at the lowest level of plot, happens. Bowman is drawn into a stargate. He is taken into another dimension of time and space, into the presence of godlike entities who have transcended matter and who are now creatures of pure energy. They provide an environment for him, a human zoo, if you like. They study him. His life passes before him. He sees himself age in what seems just a matter of moments, he dies, and he's reborn, transfigured, enhanced, a superbeing. I don't believe that anyone is terribly far from understanding it. What people sometimes mean is that they want some confirmation of what they've seen happen, and what they think. Some people who are used to the conventions of realistic theater and the three-act play are surprised when a new form is presented to them, no matter how intensely they react to it, and no matter how much pleasure they get from it.
EYE: Bowman, after this incredible experience, winds up in an eighteenth-century French bedroom. That really flips a lot of people out. Can you tell us how you conceived of this bedroom?
KUBRICK: Well, again, this gets into the area of imagination and artistic processes, whatever they are. The room is made from his own memories and dreams. It could have been anything that you could possibly imagine. This just seemed to be the most interesting room to have. (Agel, The Making of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Eye Magazine Interview, Modern Library, pp. 248-49)
2001: A Space Odyssey is my favorite film and a work of art. I seriously can't find anything wrong with the movie. For those who criticize the acting as bland, it's because Kubrick was showing that humanity has been dehumanized by technology. Again, the special effects and classical soundtrack is superb. The production design for the film is among the best, featuring some of the largest and most creative sets ever built for a motion picture. The epic screenplay is perfect, leaving much of the film open to interpretation. It makes no sense but it's something to think about and discuss with your friends. Many people today dismiss 2001 today as a boring piece of crap, but not once in its 148 minutes did the film ever even begin to bore me. You must come into the film with an open mind and lots of patience, or it will be an agonizing experience.
2001: A Space Odyssey is hands down the greatest science fiction movie of all time. Like I said, the pacing will turn off many viewers, but for those who have the patience to enjoy the movie, then you are in for treat. I give 2001: A Space Odyssey a 100% rating, and I recommend it to people ages 13 and up.
Suggested MPAA rating: Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material, some intense images, and mild language.
Directed by: Stanley Kubrick
Produced by: Stanley Kubrick
Screenplay by: Stanley Kubrick
Arthur C. Clarke
Based on: "The Sentinel"
a short story by
Arthur C. Clarke
Starring: Keir Dullea
Gary Lockwood
William Sylvester
Douglas Rain (voice)
Cinematography: Geoffrey Unsworth
Editing by: Ray Lovejoy
Distributed by: MGM (original)
Warner Bros. (DVD)
Release date: April 2, 1968 (1968-04-02) (Premiere)
April 4, 1968 (1968-04-04) (Theatrical)
Running time: 161 minutes (Premiere)
142 minutes (Theatrical)
Language: English
Budget: $10.5 million
Box office: $190,000,000