Review of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) by Allen G — 31 Mar 2016

It's punishingly slow but, my gosh, what a film. Kubrick brings space to life (and to death) here and this film's place within the sci-fi classics is well-deserved.

I'm a big Kubrick fan as, like many others, I really admire the attention to detail that he put into his work. 2001 has many examples of this with its realistic (at least for the time) portrayal of what life on a space ship might be like.

Of course there's much more going on here though. Much of this film has become iconic- particularly the character of HAL 9000 who adds a real sense of horror to the proceedings. I don't usually hear this film's name during discussions about the horror genre but I wish that I did. Much of it is truly chilling and, to my knowledge, it's the first film to really pull off the "in space no one can hear you scream" concept that would become so popular later.

As much as I enjoy this film and it's story though, there is no doubt that it drags its heels. Whilst it's hard to see how the film was as panned as it was upon release, it's not so difficult to see why many audiences wouldn't want to sit through it all.

Leaving would be a mistake though- and a big one at that. The ending scenes in this film (which probably amount to a good half hour of runtime) are some of the best that I've ever seen. Certainly, the greatest moment in film history, for me, occurs within this work.

It's a totally bonkers film but you can't help but feel like it knows something that you don't. That eeriness follows you throughout and sticks with you long after the credits roll- just make sure you don't fall asleep first!