2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
https://imgur.com/gallery/vvZgTNkimgur fucked my shit up so it isn't in order like my other movie albums but fuck it. The amount of time to reorganize that shit isn't worth it.
It's been so long since I've seen this. Probably 10 years. Truly one of the finest films ever made
A true delight for the eyes, even 50 years later. Every space movie since owes an unpayable debt, especially that hack Ridley Scott, who it would be generous to say he was "inspired" by 2001 for his space movies about dick aliens. In fact, I was so taken a back by how many shots Ridley seemed to outright lift for Alien/Prometheus/Covenant that I was googling around because I know he's talked about how much he loved 2001 a lot, and wondered why he didn't just make his own version. I found out he was to executive produce a 3001 mini-series, but nothing has been moved forward since it was announced in 2014.
It's just so
"They don't make 'em like that anymore" couldn't possibly apply more: A fairly big budget (it'd be about $70M+ budget today) hard sci-fi movie that's 2 1/2 hours long but features 90 minutes of no dialogue, where you need some familiarity with Nietzsche and Greek mythology, opens with 20 minutes of not only no dialog but no humans, the plot doesn't kick off until 40 minutes in, the main characters aren't introduced until 60 minutes in, the REAL plot isn't introduced until like 2+ hours in, and the whole thing ends with 25 minutes of ball tripping in space. It just...it taps deep into the mind and psyche in a way very few movies can. The sense of awe and wonderment of space, the adventure and mystery of space, evolution, man's place in the evolutionary tree and the universe as a whole, higher planes of consciousness and being, sentient AI and the dangers of such posited 50 years ahead of its time, how to poop in space....
It's been parodied to death, but god damn if the ape discovering tools set to
didn't make me
. Powerful scenery
African landscapes
Guy in a monkey suit getting fucked up by a cat
, the first tool being a death machine
I mean yeah they look like people in monkey suits, but they look well done even by today's standards. For the time, compare the apes in this to Planet of The Apes from the same year and the difference is comical. I'd probably argue that you couldn't find non-CGI ape suits today that look as good.
I love the weirdo ambient noise/Latin chanting to that comes with the monolith. Adds to the alienocity of the whole thing. That first shot with the sun and moon
The match cut of the first tool of death to the ultimate tool of death
The space shit that looks as good as space movies made today
So, about 40 minutes in is when you first start to get any plot. Before that, there was really nothing but visuals. This is where we first learn that something has been found on the moon and a cover story has been sent out to the world because the general public isn't ready for it. There's not really much more than that, but once they get to the moon is where I want Kubrick's family to sue Ridley, because the finding of the space jockey is almost pathetically lifted from the monolith on the moon scene. There was some trippy shit with this scene for me, as I always have a pretty powerful and loud fan running, and the tone the monolith made turned into some weird sine wave bullshit that I heard for like 45 seconds AFTER the scene
From here, right around an hour in, you get the time jump to 18 months later, so you don't get to know what happened to the only people you've seen previously, and you get the real main characters of HAL and Dave. Yeah yeah, Frank is there, too, but he's kind of a dick so whatevs. To date I'm not sure there's been a better depiction of AI in a movie. It's amazing how every line of dialog holds so much weight, how scenes with just a red light bulb can be so gripping and engaging. And the I assume intentional irony is that HAL acts more human than Frank and Dave, showing fear, confusion, worry, pride, doubt, paranoia, and other emotions that the humans don't show even in their most intense moments. Spinning sets
HAL
iPads
Once HAL cuts Frank loose, that shit is agonizing. Some of those shots are better horror than just about any actual horror movie I've ever seen. Then HAL and Dave have their little conversation and you know shit is off the rails and Dave is fucked.
HAL's "death" scene is such a bummer
He was just trying to follow his orders and it drove him crazy, if there was any emotion in his voice as his BRAIN IS GETTING PICKED APART, his begging of Dave to stop, that he can feel it, etc, would be unbearable. How the fuck is it possible to get such emotion from a computer voice represented by a red light?
When you get to the stargate, yeah its pretty weird and abstract, but makes enough sense once Dave turns into the starchild at the end. You can view it as just generally travelling through a blackhole, conception, Dave's DNA evolving, or all of them. Or none of them. It is what it is but it's pretty awesome even today.
It's just such a unique film that holds up on every level 50 years later, and despite 50 years of direct parodies and homages in every form of visual media from other movies to TV shows to video games to cartoons to yogurt commercials in 2018. It taps into higher brain functions or something. Such a delight. There's actually a theater in Indy showing it in IMAX for a few days at the end of the month
out of 5
