2001: A Space Odyssey Review

Number 116 on the top 1000 films of all time is Stanley Kubrick's 2001 A Space Odyssey.  It's regarded as one of the greatest films of all time, but is it all it's cracked up to be?

The film opens on a group of primates gathered around a mysterious stone black monolith.  Over a short montage, we see these apes evolve into humans, revealing that the monolith had an influence on their development.  Cut forward millions of years later, an identical monolith has been found on Jupiter.  A team of astronauts led by Dr David Bowman (Keir Dullea) to investigate but when the mission is threatened by human error, the artificial intelligence Hal vows to complete it by any means.

A Space Odyssey is a movie that asks big questions: just what is mankind's place in the universe? Are we part of something bigger? But what interested me more were smaller questions.  What does it mean to be a man? What does it mean to be human?

I think these ideas were explored well within the characters of Bowman and Hal.  In today's society, AI is a fascinating topic and Hal was no exception.  When Bowman realises that Hal is malfunctioning and conspires to shut it down, Hal takes control of the ship, killing Bowman's crew.  Hal then becomes determined to carry complete the ship's mission.  In some sense, this makes him the film's villain, but he is only an AI.  He's following what he's programmed to do.  Does that make him villainous? Is Bowman the villain for stopping him? No, probably not, but a Space Odyssey raises interesting questions about human morality.

A Space Odyssey also received critical acclaim for its special effects.  While they were great for when the film was released in 1969, it was during this part where I started becoming lost.  After Bowman terminates Hal and discovers the true nature of the mission, he decides to carry it out.  He reaches the monolith which then takes him through a wormhole and into a neoclassical room, where he sees different versions of himself at various ages.

The film ends with a baby in utero knocking against the Earth.  At this point, I had no idea what was going on, but this is more a criticism of my own lack of understanding, rather than the actual film.  Although Kubrick himself never revealed what the end of the film means, I'm sure it's perplexing enough to keep scholars busy for decades.

Yet unfortunately, all of this symbolism and visual metaphors just flew over my head.  While it was intriguing to watch, I would have preferred to have spent more time with Hal and just what it means to be human.  I liked how Bowman outsmarted Hal, demonstrating that imagination can be stronger than intelligence.

But overall, my criticisms boil down to my own lack of understanding.  I'm sure I would have a better sense of what was happening, if I watched the film again.  It certainly is worth a rewatch.  I love the ideas it posited about artificial intelligence.  This is perhaps the ultimate film to watch for sci-fans.