Review: "2001: A Space Odyssey in 2025"

Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey is my favorite film of all time.  I recently had the chance to revel in this masterpiece 57 years later at a special screening at The Rangos Giant Cinema in Pittsburgh, which boasts a 71-by 39-foot giant screen and a Dolby Atmos surround system with 49 speakers.

Me at Rangos Giant Cinema, Pittsburgh, PA

It instantly made the top of my list when I saw it for the first time shortly after its release in April 2, 1968.  I was just out of high school.  I had no idea what the movie was about.  It was a movie unlike anything I had ever seen.  I was blown away at its epic scope and artistry.  Critics at the time were calling it the most expensive “art film” that had ever been produced.  I just knew I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

2001 was written by acclaimed science fiction author Arthur C. Clark.  It was based upon a short story he wrote in 1948, titled “The Sentinel.”  He and Kubrick set about to make perhaps the first serious science fiction film, one which would take a sober look at the not-too-distant future from the perspective of the mid-Sixties to the year 2001. 

They consulted with technology experts who did their best to predict what the world would be like.  They correctly foresaw the development of an orbiting space station, astronauts walking and working on the moon, as well as the invention of microwave ovens, electronic tablets and video communications paid with the use of a credit card.  Though these things are commonplace in 2025, they were still in the realm of science fiction when this visionary movie was released.

The other thing that didn’t exist in 1968 was a supercomputer like HAL 9000 which was capable of speech recognition and a host of other advancements which brought it to the edge of self-actualization. 

It raised a tantalizing question: might computers ever develop to the point of self-awareness, and if they became self-aware, would they then have concerns about their own self-preservation, and perhaps perceive their human creators as an existential threat?

All this is spelled out in 2001.  The theme of the movie is the evolution  of intelligence, from pre-human, ape-like creatures discovering the use of a bone as a tool/weapon, to the development of human intelligence (the scientists and astronauts), to the emergence of computer, artificial intelligence (HAL 9000) to the possible development of non-physical intelligence that would transcend mortality (implied in the final reel of the film in the famous “Star Child” sequence).

A mock-up of the "room" from 2001: A Space Odyssey at The Smithsonian.

2001 proposes some mind-bending ideas on a level most other movies never reach.  It does this with a surprising lack of dialog.  By and large, it is a silent film with spectacular images and powerful music and sound. Technically, it is a stunning masterpiece of filmmaking with a list of never-before-seen innovations (such as Douglas Trumbull’s breakthrough slit-scan photography used in the famous, psychedelic “Stargate” sequence).

57 years after its release, 2001 is alive and well, and as powerful and pertinent as the day it debuted.  You need to be reminded that it was produced long before the advent of digital, computer-generated effects that have become the staple of sci-fi and superhero films.

The effects in 2001 relied on complicated multiple-exposures and the construction of massive rotating sets that would create the illusion of weightlessness.  Books have been devoted to the technical aspects of the filming of 2001.  They are fascinating.

The movie was several years in production.  Its $10.5 million budget risked the financial stability of MGM.  It was a gutsy project headed by one of the most wildly creative, impossibly uncompromising geniuses that the movie industry would ever see. Kubrick reached for the stars.

l recall an interview in which Kubrick and Clark said if people felt they understood the film, they (the filmmakers) had failed in their purpose and intent.  What they wanted was to create a film experience that would expand imagination, create a sense of wonder, and stimulate conversation.

There has never been a bigger story than the one told in 2001, spanning millions of years of time and millions of lightyears in space. It famously jump-cuts from a bone/weapon triumphantly tossed into the air several million years ago, to the image of what the bone ultimately became—an orbiting nuclear weapon hovering above the earth in the year 2001.

2001 is a triumph.  For those who have complained about its slow pace, you must consider Kubrick chose to deliberately depict the future world as one that was believable and realistic, and perhaps a bit mundane and uneventful at times. 

The scenes of the astronauts Frank and Dave on the massive Jupiter-bound spaceship reflect the isolation and loneliness of an extended, deep space mission. 

Nothing is rushed.  We have time to take in the scenery and amazing detail of their claustrophobic environment and feel the unnerving terror when the AI crewmember in charge of the mission suddenly, disturbingly goes amuck.

Me with actor Keir Dullea, who played astronaut Dave Bowman.