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Stanley Kubrick advanced the art of special effects and brought the science-fiction genre out of low-budget purgatory with 2001: A Space Odyssey. With a script co-written by Arthur C. Clarke, based on Clarke’s short story “The Sentinel”, 2001 opens at the ‘Dawn of Man’, depicting a tribe of proto-human apes fighting over a watering hole. One day, a mysterious black obelisk appears that disturbs the apes tremendously. Shortly afterwards, one of them discovers the ability to use large bones as weapons. The film then fast-forwards to the future, where a doctor (William Sylvester) travels via commercial space shuttle to an outpost on the moon. (Keep in mind this film was released over a year before the historic 1969 moon landing.) There he and other scientists and government officials bear witness to a second sighting of the mysterious obelisk — which emits a piercing noise and sends a signal toward Jupiter.
The film then skips to a secret Jupiter mission. The Discovery One space vessel is run by two humans, David and Frank (Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood), but they depend mightily on an artificial intelligence nick-named HAL (voiced by Douglas Rain). When HAL makes an unprecedented error, David and Frank conspire to shut HAL down. They fear his sudden misjudgment may jeopardize their mission. Unfortunately, HAL learns of their plans and retaliates to preserve his own existence. He kills Frank and locks David out of the ship. But David risks his life to find a way back inside, and once he’s there, HAL becomes like a frightened child, pleading for its life while David shuts down his various systems.
Discovery One then arrives at the obelisk’s coordinates, but only David is alive to witness the events of 2001‘s trippy, abstract, final quarter. Kubrick and Clarke have stated that the film is not meant to make total sense, and that if anyone claims to completely understand 2001, then they have failed as filmmakers. But David appears to travel through time and space in a profound, mind-altering sort of way. His shuttle pod finally lands in a futuristic bedroom where he ages comfortably until he lies in his death bed. Is he being studied by alien intelligence? At death’s door, the black obelisk appears at the foot of his bed and he reaches for it. In one of the most confounding endings in movie history, David then appears as a giant fetus in his bed, and then we end on the image of a colossal fetus approaching the planet Earth.
There are things both indisputable and open to interpretation with 2001. The special effects are indisputably among the finest ever put to film. Kubrick did not have computer graphics at his disposal, nor did he utilize optical compositing. All the visual effects are achieved ‘in camera’, employing models, mirrors, and multiple film exposures to achieve an uncanny realism. (Blade Runner holds up just as well for embracing these same techniques.) The realistic effects help 2001 achieve a seriousness that, up to that point, science fiction was never given in film. This made 2001 arguably the biggest ‘event movie’ since Gone with the Wind.
While some audiences were blown away by Kubrick’s seriousness and realism, others were indifferent-to-dismissive about the film’s open-endedness. The film did not do as well at the box office as hoped, though it eventually found a significant number of repeat viewers among the stoner/hippie crowd, who liked to get high for Keir Dullea’s climactic acid trip. Over the years, though, 2001 has slowly become a classic, and Arthur C. Clarke’s simultaneous release of the novel (bearing the same title) has helped guide audiences toward an interpretation of Kubrick’s visuals. Even if you don’t completely understand what you’re experiencing, Kubrick’s powerful use of evocative classical music will certainly tell you how to feel about it — whether it’s the epiphanic use of Strauss, the haunting dissonance of Ligeti, or the funereal Khachaturian.
Most fans of the film — this fan included — take away some spiritual/religious meaning. If you want it to make strict, absolute sense, you will be disappointed. But if you’re willing to be an active participant in the storytelling, Kubrick and Clarke give you just enough guideposts to send your mind down some provocative wormholes. The film’s languid pacing doesn’t make it ideal for casual or repeat viewings, but 2001 is a film everyone should see at least one time in a theater that truly envelopes your senses.
In a way, I think this film is much like its own mysterious, dark obelisk. It presents itself to audiences placated by pat, formulaic filmmaking and attempts to evolve our expectations of cinema — and what film can be.
Academy Award: Best Visual Effects
Oscar Nominations: Best Director, Best Art Direction, Best Original Screenplay