Review of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) by Emily K — 13 Apr 2016

After watching this film, I realized my overall expectation of the movie has not been reached. The beginning of the story was very confusing as a majority of the film did not involve verbal interactions amongst each other. However, towards the end of the film, things began to connect and go in place after being confused the first half. It revealed the purpose of the film and made me rethink the plot as a whole but it still failed to impress me due to the exceptionally long scenes and steady pace.

The main focus of this film is human evolution. The film is divided into three main divisions; past, present, and future. In the past, monkeys take the lead role by showing their daily activities and purpose as a living. The plot takes a twist when these living creatures soon learn to use tools as a weapon for survival. The second part involves the existence of humans the advancement of technology in the newly discovered planet. Humans begin to depend on these advancements however later it is revealed that a robot plans to kill these human beings. Fast forward to the future, life on earth has formed and it is based on the reality of life. Towards the end of the film, the storyline all connects through the black pyramid which represented evolution of humankind and the development of human morality. It showed the beginning of a new human life, explaining how there is always another chance to achieve the "perfect" life.

The actors did a proper job in portraying their characters as from the novel however there are not many dialogues in the film. Personally, the acting of the characters is not to be blamed. The fault is in the script. More interactions amongst each other would have created a greater connection and kept the viewers more hooked.

Throughout the movie there were many film techniques used. The movie started off peacefully by focusing on breath taking scenarios to set the plot. It also did a good job in placing good transitions between the times of day to let the film flow. Once there was action scenes involved, such as when the monkey used the bones as a weapon, the director did an amazing job alternating scenes of the bones and animal being killed. They also intensified the background music which allowed the viewer to capture the importance and intensity of the scene. They also managed to have good shadowing on all the characters and objects. Later in the film, when the prime focus was on the planets and space, the shadowing gave it a more realistic feel. Other techniques such as trucking were also evident like when one of the main characters began to jog around the shuttle. It gave good allusions and kept the viewers intrigued on what was going on. There were no scenes focused on a flat line; everything was moving. The classical music played a perfect blend with the special effects which all gave a realistic feel. During the time travel part, the colorful movement gave an overall 3D effect. To end the movie, a baby is shown which wrapped up the movie well with its lively effects.

The film failed to disappoint me as it was very detailed however the novel had more interaction. For the most part, the movie was highly confusing up until the end unlike the novel which implanted a direct vision in my head. As the plot carried on, the similarity between the film and novel began to appear and starting making connections.

Although the formation of the film was suitable, the overall film was not impressing. The movie dragged on for way too long and left the viewer inpatient at certain moments. It is amazing how advanced this movie is filmed however you are required to have a lot of patience to watch the whole thing and are left quite confused at first.