Rating: 
Summary: THE BEST FILM I'VE EVER SEEN ALONG WITH APOCALYPSE NOW
Review: 2001 is the best movie i've ever seen along with APOCALYPSE NOW. Every time (or almost every time)i view 2001 i discover something new. That's the best thing about watching this definite masterpiece. The special effects are a standout.
Rating:
Summary: The Ultimate
Review: 2001 is the ultimate cinematic experience. This movie has it all for fans of film. When i say this, I don't mean your casual film goer who thinks "2 fast 2 furious" is an instant classic, I mean those who appreciate film for what it is. For those pop culture movie goers, this film will bore them within five minutes. But, those who appreciate the art of film, will drool over the sheer awe that this movie has.
The story is a little more than simple. It starts in prehistoric africa where Moonwatcher the man-ape and his clan. A mysterious monolith appears and teaches them the use of crude, but usful tools in order to eat. It suddenly jumps (via on of the best jumps cuts ever) inot space in the year 2001 where a monolith has been discovered buried in the moons surface. When it is dug up it sends an ear peircing ringing through all of space, a sort of call letting the worlds know it is time. We then jump to the Jupiter mission in which the main story starts. This is where Hal 9000 makes his first appierence with Dave and Frank. We all should know what happens next.
This movie, released in 1968 but filmed before, was a technological phenomenon. Not even star wars can hold up to the power of 2001. The scene in which Dave enters the monolith could be one of the best in cinema. It is a filmed acid trip pretty much. Except it gave us a look at what other constalations might look like (remember we weren't even on the moon yet).
This is Kubricks best film, and by far and away one of the top five films ever made.
Rating:
Summary: defies description
Review: 2001 is truly cinema because it reaches past logic into pure experience. Anyone expecting traditional comfort will be confused, while anyone seeking a connection with the mystery of living will be rewarded. Kubrick has composed metaphysical poetry. There are no answers. Only possibilities. Many people are frustrated with this, and that is why you need to surrender to the unknown in yourself if you are to actually SEE Kubrick's masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: Quintessential Kubrick
Review: 2001 isn't "about" anything. This is a good thing. 2001 far transcends the ordinary limitations of typical plot driven narratives and takes the viewer into a world of wonder and possibility. Arguably Kubrick's most personal work. An early systhesis of every idea, emotion & understanding he was trying to convey through his art. 2001 is easily his most Kubrickian work. His usage of colors, shapes, styles, arrangements, textures, sounds and music is daring, unique and possibly brilliant. The plot is little more than a frame on which to hang his concepts. Few movies are so emotionally and intellectually challenging. Kubrick forces the viewer to keep up and offers niether simplistic explanations nor sealed and delivered conclusions. Its all food for thought and its a five star feast.
Rating:
Summary: Quintessential Kubrick
Review: 2001 isn't "about" anything. This is a good thing. 2001 far transcends the ordinary limitations of typical plot driven narratives and takes the viewer into a world of wonder and possibility. Arguably Kubrick's most personal work. An early systhesis of every idea, emotion & understanding he was trying to convey through his art. 2001 is easily his most Kubrickian work. His usage of colors, shapes, styles, arrangements, textures, sounds and music is daring, unique and possibly brilliant. The plot is little more than a frame on which to hang his concepts. Few movies are so emotionally and intellectually challenging. Kubrick forces the viewer to keep up and offers niether simplistic explanations nor sealed and delivered conclusions. Its all food for thought and its a five star feast.
Rating:
Summary: The Greatest Science Fiction Movie Thus Far
Review: 2001 may not appeal to everyone.... some of us want tidy little stories with a plot that appeals to the conscious mind. Well... eat your popcorn and watch "Independence Day". This is THE science fiction movie that appeals to the subconscious, the superconcious and the thinkers. Just like REAL space, this one will raise more questions than it answers. Just like REAL life, there is no plot... only a series of experiences.... all so magificently photographed, the movie would be better described as a "MOVING PAINTING"... and in fact, I feel that way about most of Kubrick's films, most notably "Barry Lyndon". Sit back, experience, and allow your eyes to shift into that other part of your mind... the part that cannot predict what will happen next... that part that is filled with awe, mystery, fear, lonliness, fascination, wonder, and view a universe that will never have narration to explain it all to you in neat little sentences.This film is a masterpiece to anyone who truly understands the true art of the medium... visually stunning, sonically mesmerizing, and frame after frame of magnificent beauty.
Rating:
Summary: The Greatest Science Fiction Movie Thus Far
Review: 2001 may not appeal to everyone.... some of us want tidy little stories with a plot that appeals to the conscious mind. Well... eat your popcorn and watch "Independence Day". This is THE science fiction movie that appeals to the subconscious, the superconcious and the thinkers. Just like REAL space, this one will raise more questions than it answers. Just like REAL life, there is no plot... only a series of experiences.... all so magificently photographed, the movie would be better described as a "MOVING PAINTING"... and in fact, I feel that way about most of Kubrick's films, most notably "Barry Lyndon". Sit back, experience, and allow your eyes to shift into that other part of your mind... the part that cannot predict what will happen next... that part that is filled with awe, mystery, fear, lonliness, fascination, wonder, and view a universe that will never have narration to explain it all to you in neat little sentences. This film is a masterpiece to anyone who truly understands the true art of the medium... visually stunning, sonically mesmerizing, and frame after frame of magnificent beauty.
Rating:
Summary: Haunting
Review: 2001 speaks on another level visually. There is nothing more eerie or awe inspiring than watching the very beginning of the film...darkness, nothing else for 2 minutes while dissonant strings rumble beneath. The Dawn of Man sequence at the beginning is pure visual minimalist art...no dialogue, no nothing. Just watch... It is here that we're first introduced to the dull black monolith that ties the film together in the most cryptic of ways. By the time you reach the "meat" of the film, you realize that you're over twenty minutes into it and you haven't heard a word. It was a beautiful moment for me the first time that happened. The music is phenomenal and appropriate from scene to scene...being massively disturbing at points and gently graceful at others. H.A.L. has got to be one of the most unsettling film villains in history. Calm, calculating...flawed. His (it's) demeanor of logic and rationalizing makes sense yet is very cruel. I actually found myself sympathizing with H.A.L. This is film making taken to the Nth degree. Simply amazing. "Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite", the film's beautifully bizarre last chapter presents us with stunning computer-generated effects and the disturbing scenario of living an entire life in moments. When the final frame rolls by and you're left to put the film together in retrospect, you find yourself confounded, yet amazed by what you've just seen.
Rating:
Summary: Not for the faint of heart or imagination.
Review: 2001 walks the fine line between triumph and tragedy. I consider it a triumph for just about the same reasons as all of favorable reviewers do: imaginative storytelling, special effects, atmosphere, subtlety, etc. However, I also consider it a tragedy because nothing, at least in the science fiction realm, that involves the viewer like 2001 has been made since. It truly saddens me to see that we have to put with Lost in Space(1998), Armageddon, ID4, etc. instead. Make no mistake about it, 2001 offers the viewer a lot. But it also demands a lot. Once you begin to watch, you will be asked to muster every bit of imagination, patience, brain power, and the little part of you that doesn't fear the unknown you have. There is no wasted dialogue. Heck, almost two hours are spent where there is no talking at all. There are no unnecessary characters doing unnnecessary things, which is a welcome change of pace from the cocky heroes who are all attitude and no personality (are you reading Will Smith?). Every thing you see and hear you really have to watch and listen. Once you are able to handle the meticulous plot details, you then have to adjust to the cold, humorless atmosphere that belies the film's G rating. 2001 brilliantly plays on our fear of the unknown, be it death or the mysteries of the universe in general. And as for the plot meaning, I refuse to give spoilers in my reviews even if 100+ reviewers did so before. I freely admit that I went to the local book store and bought a $.95 dogeared copy of the novelization two days after watching the movie because I simply was at a loss for understanding. Don't expect this to be a fun, thrill-a-minute movie like Star Wars or anything with Indiana Jones (don't get wrong, I love those movies). And definitely don't expect it to be a braindead Jerry Bruckheimer production where you have the whole thing figured out in the first 10 minutes. Forgive my crappy classic rock analogy, but if I had to compare this to another work of art, then it would be Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. DSotM is not a good album if you only want something that rocks or provides a harmless little thrill (unless you like the song "Money"). However, it is great album that can best be enjoyed by throwing your mind into it. Overall rating: Drive out to the country on the clearest night possible. Look up at the sky. That's how many stars I give 2001.
Rating: 
Summary: 2001: a nice idea but a terrible movie
Review: 2001 was a very complex and insightful movie, but it lagged everywhere and just was not very entertaining. Many scenes were excessively long and their added length just showed the same basic material over and over until you just wanted to scream "OK! I GOT IT! MOVE ON!" You could have editted at least fourty-five minutes off of the movie and you wouldn't have lost any of the content.
|
