What Makes "2001: A Space Odyssey" Great

Here we are over 50 years later, and Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey is every bit as mesmerizing and beautiful as it was when it came out, if not more so. While it's a film that doesn't say much in terms of stories and offers few direct answers to its themes and ideas, it rewards those who go into it with an open mind, and are willing to see the film for it's visual mastery and willing to walk out of it with no answer to what they just watched, but rather something that leaves you thinking and pondering, trying to find a meaning on your own, which causes its impact to stay with you, and reward multiple viewings afterward. It's because of this that 2001 didn't get labeled as a masterpiece right away, with every person that loved it, there was another who hated it, a similar fate to many other Kubrick films such as "A Clockwork Orange" and "The Shining". As the years went and the film settled a bit more, it slowly gained the reputation it has today, with a lot of that coming from filmmakers like Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, who have listed 2001 as a major influence on them.

Visually, it is one of the best-aged films I have ever seen. Whenever it is playing on the big screen, I will always go and see it just to see those amazing visuals in the best way possible. The various technical tricks to bring the visuals of 2001 to life were some of the most revolutionary at the time. The use of rotating sets, and various photography tricks and then some brought to life a film that has better special effects than even some high budget Hollywood films today. The process Kubrick used helped lay out the groundwork for various acclaimed filmmakers in the future, such as George Lucas, Ridley Scott, and Christopher Nolan.

2001 is divided into various sections, ranging from the famous "Dawn of Man", to "The Jupiter Mission". It's this arrangement of the stories that lay the true beauty and possible meaning to 2001. It's similar to Disney's "Fantasia" where each sequence is like a synchronized opera with each telling a story through the visuals and music, as well as each segment having a distinct look and feel to it. I"ll never forget the screams and growls of the apes in The Dawn of Man segments, as well as the amazing sequence of them discovering tools for the first time with the classical Richard Strauss music and the inter-cut of the death of various animals beautifully signifying the importance of this discovery. All of these segments in the film are connected by one thing, the mysterious "Monolith". The mystery of the Monolith is the main driving point throughout most of the film. The audience is also as spellbound and unsure of the meaning of the monolith as the characters are. That chanting like music whenever the Monolith is on screen effectively creates a feeling of fear and unknown, you want to know what it is, but can you handle the truth it holds.

2001 is also still the best film to portray space in my opinion. The film had various advisers from NASA who helped them make space travel as accurate as possible, for example during the moon landing sequence one of the flight attendance wheres specially made gravity shoes, and various shots in space are completely silent. Silence is another thing Kubrick does well here, some of the best scenes are those that have no sound at all other than the emptiness of space. Some of my favorite examples of this is when Dr. Bowman (Keir Dullea), and Dr. Poole (Gary Lockwood) discuss the possibility of shutting the AI computer HAL down behind closed doors so Hal won't hear them, but the scenes ends with the silence of space, and a perspective shot of HAl watching their lips move, and then a close up of HAL's red blank stare, and we know right away what's up. Another scene that uses this well is when HAl kills Dr. Poole and the rest of the crew who are in hypersleep. When HAL kills Poole by destroying his oxygen supply and sending him adrift. This again is done with only the sound of the emptiness of space. The scene where HAL disables the life support systems on the hypersleep chambers is also well done with the shot of the computer warning that the life support is failing, and then a cut to the died astronauts, and than HAl's red stare is hauntingly effective.

While the film is more concerned with an epic adventure through space and time rather than strong characters, the film does create one extremely memorable character, and he is not even human. I am of course talking about the 'HAL 9000". HAL is the embodiment of the idea of technology turning against us in other films. It also helps that HAL has very memorable characteristics despite being a computer with no facial expression other than that red stare. He shows clear characteristics of pride and fear throughout the film that makes him all the more fascinating. For example, during his interview with the reporter, we can see clear signs that he is somewhat bragging about his "perfection". Even his whole motivation for turning on the humans comes more out of fear, instead of simply seeing them as inferior or unequipped to complete the mission assigned. He simply doesn't want to be shut down and believes that the shutdown of him will jeopardize the mission, and when he is being shut down by Dr. Bowman, he even says, "I'm afraid". His motivation thus creates a unique mix of both pride and fear.

I have personally come to interpret the meaning of 2001 to bring that of the evolution of man. The film begins with the early stages of man discovering tools for the first time, trough Bowman's transformation into a cosmic being. The cut of the bone being thrown into the air to the spaceship is a perfect example of this theme, showing the progress of man from using bones to conquer prey and rival groups, to going beyond our birth planet in high tech space ships, as if this was what that moment was leading to. However, eventually, our progress almost becomes our undoing when HAl, a computer of our creation nearly destroys almost the entire crew of its voyage. Dr. Bowman than has to correct this mistake and it is after that when he is able to transcend science and technology and become what is essentially a god. The Monolith plays a key role in this as it appears when we man makes a significant discovery, such as before the apes right before they use tools for the first time, when the scientists discover it after digging on the moon, before Bowman enters the black hole, and when he is about to die and transform into that cosmic being at the end.

If you haven't seen this film, I highly encourage you to watch it as soon as possible. This recommendation should not be taken lightly, it really is one of those films everyone needs to see.