Kubrick is without doubt one of the greatest film geniuses ever to have lived. His ability to give social, political and even personal critiques in his movies along with beautiful colours and amazing shot composition is unbeatable. And of the great Kubrick movies there are few better to discuss than "2001: A Space Odyssey".
That having been said I will now make a point of personal opinion. There is no such thing as pure Kubrick. Kubrick made many films and not one is really all that he ever contributed. If one wanted a list of movies that have the most Kubrick-ness in them the list would probably be "2001: A Space Odyssey", "A Clockwork Orange", "Barry Lyndon", "Dr. Straingelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" and "Lolita". Well thats about every major Kubrick film ever. Wrong. Kubrick made attempts at horror ("The Shining") and war films ("Paths of Glory" "Full Metal Jacket"), but although these are recognized as Kubrick films they do not have the classic elements of his genius.
But that is not what this review is about. This is a review of "2001: A Space Odyssey".
This movie comes in three if not four distinct parts. And these are even shown in titles in the film. They are The Dawn of Man, From Earth to the Moon (this title is not in the movie), 18 Months Later, and, Jupiter... And Beyond the Infinite. Now anyone who has seen this movie knows that I have allot to cover here. But I have all the time you are willing to read this to cover it.
The Dawn of Man
This is without doubt a very well known part of the movie. You know that whole thing with that classic music and the monkeys hitting things with bones. Chances are you know it even if you don't know you know it. Well this part of the movie is really pretty much a spoiler for the rest of the movie. It tells everything an nothing, cause you would not know that you knew everything before you knew it and besides Cliffs Notes never get you anywhere in life.
What is this part of the movie? Well I all ready kinda told you. It turns out to be monkeys hitting things with bones, but that is not the actual importance of this and there is really allot more to it than that. Cause what of corse happens when the monkeys pick up the bones is this; they are realizing the ability to utilize tools and this is a huge break through in consciousness. Which is after all what the Black Monolith is a symbol of. If you have not seen this movie (which is a travesty in its self cause it is amazingly important wether or not you like it and also cause it is just amazing) what I have just said probably washes right over your head. "Black Monolith," you'd say "what is he talking about?!?!" Don't worry just go watch the movie. Well let me just explain this really quickly, the Black Monolith is real and not real, I mean it is not really like there is this marauding, giant black slab of something that comes 'round periodically when we decide we want to hit things with things. The Monolith is the most important break through embodied artistically (which is something Kubrick was a master of). And when you see this part of the movie you will see all the artistry ever conceived in smashing bones. It is really hard to describe the beauty of the way it is done. How the bones spin in the air and are crushed. How the peccary falls to the ground and how the dawn of man dawns in this movie.
Well you look at the DVD box and you see what looks like a Concorde flying out of a space station. And well what do the monkeys have to do with that? Well again going back to this consciousness thing this part of the movie foreshadows for what is to come in the next parts of the film. And that is why it is important. And that is why it is relevant. And that is why I am spending this time on it here. And we are going to get to space in a bit here.
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"Space. The final frontier. These are the voyages of the star ship Enterprise. It's five year mission to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life, and new civilizations. To boldly go where no man has gone before." And that is how "Star Trek" began in 1968, its last of three years on TV and the year "2001" came out. Space. What's out there? Well we don't know. But in 1968 we were about to find out. And it was in this mentality that Star Trek as well as "2001" where born in. And that brings us to
From Earth to the Moon
Now of corse it is obvious that this was soon to be a reality. But in 1968, to see a Pan Am flight to the moon would have just been awe-inspiring. But that is not the importance of this movie. What is then? What happens here in this part of the movie. Well this is the set up. Yeah the monkeys where not the set up really. This is. And we still have not gotten to the movie.
Well this fellow goes up to the moon to check out this amazing archeological find, it is the first evidence of any other intelligent life in the universe. What is it? It is the deliberately buried Black Monolith. And it is what leads to the mission to Jupiter when it lets out a high frequency message to Jupiter. And that is when the movie begins. But not yet there is much to cover here too.
Well that is basically all that really happens in this section of the movie. And although I have said that the movie hasn't started yet, it is, however, here that the tone and style for most of the movie to come is set. Here is where we see the visuals that even today are amazing. The spinning sense of gravity. Well it is hard to really hard to get zero gravity for the purposes of a movie, and besides isn't artificial gravity a cool idea. How does Kubrick get around this problem of space not having gravity? He does it by skewing our sense of what gravity is in every way. And I am not going to tell you just how he did it even though I know how he did most of them (they are just too cool to ruin, even though by reading this you are ruining the whole movie for yourself). Well what happens that skews gravity? Well a person just walks up a wall and into a room. And this goes on for the rest of the movie, and every time you are remarking "How did they do that?!?!" Well don't you know, I my self walk up walls all the time when I am taking a Pan Am flight to the moon.
Although this is all well and cool I would like to pause for a minute to talk about shot composition. Cause here is some of the best in the movie. And I am afraid you would have to have my like whole commentary on the movie to fully understand how; when they are in the space station the reds of things like chairs standout against the hard and bright whites of the floor and walls of the station. You have just got to see the movie.
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Wow. Take a look at what you have just read. Or what I have just written cause that is relatively amazing too. This is allot of information and it is really small compared to the movie. And know, we still have allot to go. But hey the next part of the review is all about the actual movie, and that is what we have been looking forward too anyways.
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18 Months Later
18 months later I have a problem with the movie. And it is a problem allot of people seem to have with this movie. A problem that enough people have that Mel Brooks is willing to take a potshot at it in "Space Balls". And it is the infamous huge ship passing shot. Yeah it takes a while for the ship to pass but you only have to watch it once and it is actually really important to the world of Sci-Fi so do try to stay awake through it.
About that spaceship passing: Suddenly a ship passes. We have seen this a hundred times. Probably even a hundred times this movie alone. What makes this one important? To find out we are going back to the 50's. Back to the time of Flash Gordon. Here we see Flash and his friends flying around in a rocket ship. And this was widely accepted as what the future was to be. But then in 1966 things began to change. Star Trek flew on to the home TV's of thousands of households. And there was a non-arodinamc spaceship moving without rockets. And this movie was the next level. And it was because of this that we see the space ship we see in movies today. And that is the importance of the scene.
Well I said that this section of the movie is the real movie and so it is. This is where the action is. A crew of five is aboard the ship plus a HAL 9000 (an almost human super computer). Three of the crew are in hibernation to conserve energy on the trip to Jupiter. Two remain awake incase anything should happen, their names are Dave and Frank. It is not long that HAL starts sabotaging the mission for reasons not even he can really explain. But HAL decides that all the crew must die and that he should complete the mission on his own. He sends Frank off into space and tries to leave Dave out there to but Dave is to quick, he is able to get back to the ship and shut down HAL in one of the most passionately performed deaths on film as HAL sings "Daisy".
Again Kubick shows off his amazing talent for colour and style in the section of the movie as well. We see reds dashed with whites, a contrast to the whites with reds that we see earlier. And the same gravity skewing holds present. And the use of reflections on glossy surfaces begins. And then that continues for the rest of the movie.
Yes that was rather brief for this review but there is no more to be said. And we need to get through allot more. And then actually review all of this.
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Well. I have been taking allot about the 60's, it is important with a movie like this. And I am going to have to explain some more now and this time it starts with three letters: LSD. LSD stands (somehow) for Lysergic acid diethylamide and it is what is called a narcotic. I am not going to linger on this but if you see the movie you will understand.
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Jupiter... And Beyond the Infinite
This was the part that freaked me out the first time I saw it. And this is the part I like the least not only cause it freaked me out as a little kid but also cause it just makes no sense. Maybe it does if you have taken LSD. Because what happens is Dave has to go down to Jupiter. As was the mission. And as he goes down there there is this big laser light show thing and the Black Monolith showes up a few more times. And Kubrick again shows of his ability to use colours and lights to highlight a scene and make a really nice shot. Anyways Dave shows up in this room that is also very nicely composed for the camera. And the Black Monolith shows up. Then Dave turns into a giant cosmic embryo baby thing. LSD must make all the difference but I really would not know.
Okay if that does not give my opinion enough I will restate it. I really like Kubrick. I really like this movie. I cannot stand this part of it. It makes no sense at all and really just kind ruins the whole amazing movie that you had to watch up to this. But over all it is an amazing movie. And you really must see it.