Not a very long post right now, and this time it's on classical Science Fiction. 2001: A Space Odyssey, the work of Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick, is what you get when you put a Sage and a Genius together. It's pure genius.
I've heard enough reviewers describe it as 2001: A Space Plodyssey, but I won't agree with them. This movie may be slow, but it's meant to be that way, to be savored like fine wine or a gourmet meal. It's not meant to be rushed. It's slow, it's thoughful, it's hypnotic, it has a kind of eerie, hypnotic beauty to it that modern SF movies can somehow never accomplish. It's not about the old-fashioned special effects (which were of course, a million times harder to pull off in 1968 than today), it's about the way the entire movie is structured.
And then there's the music - haunting, magnificent, eerie in turn. I've heard the Alex North score and even if it's good music, it's not the music for this movie. Stanley Kubrick knew what he was doing when he kept the temp track for the movie itself, and by Jove did it pay off!
Whenever I see that movie - or anything related to that movie, I wonder if any Science Fiction author and movie maker in the 21st century could possibly pull off something of the same magnitude. There have been many great Science Fiction movies, but can any SF movie ever take a look at the sum total of mankind's evolution and progress, and invite its viewers to ask questions about mankind, life, intelligence, progress, technology and the universe as well as 2001? I doubt we'll see such a movie even by the year 2068.
I've heard enough reviewers describe it as 2001: A Space Plodyssey, but I won't agree with them. This movie may be slow, but it's meant to be that way, to be savored like fine wine or a gourmet meal. It's not meant to be rushed. It's slow, it's thoughful, it's hypnotic, it has a kind of eerie, hypnotic beauty to it that modern SF movies can somehow never accomplish. It's not about the old-fashioned special effects (which were of course, a million times harder to pull off in 1968 than today), it's about the way the entire movie is structured.
And then there's the music - haunting, magnificent, eerie in turn. I've heard the Alex North score and even if it's good music, it's not the music for this movie. Stanley Kubrick knew what he was doing when he kept the temp track for the movie itself, and by Jove did it pay off!
Whenever I see that movie - or anything related to that movie, I wonder if any Science Fiction author and movie maker in the 21st century could possibly pull off something of the same magnitude. There have been many great Science Fiction movies, but can any SF movie ever take a look at the sum total of mankind's evolution and progress, and invite its viewers to ask questions about mankind, life, intelligence, progress, technology and the universe as well as 2001? I doubt we'll see such a movie even by the year 2068.
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