2001 – A Space Odyssey [Blu-ray] [1968]

Tags: -, A, blu ray, Odyssey, Space, [1968], [2001]

10 Responses to “2001 – A Space Odyssey [Blu-ray] [1968]”

1. Anonymous says:

   February 10, 2004 at 6:22 am

   Rating

   This film is one of my favourites. At first I bought it on video, and having pressed play on the video, fell promptly asleep. I awoke and couldn’t tell the difference between the scene I had awoken to and the one I had fallen asleep at. Space, a spaceship, and the Blue Danube. Back to sleep for me.However, the next day, a little more awake, I braved watching it again in my living room on a widescreen TV. From start to finish, I was completely transfixed.The film is undoubtedly confusing, and if you read Kubrick’s biography, a lot of time is dedicated to the production of this picture – including the process of writing it. Apparently, a lot of the film had to be cut for time restraint, and as a result, explanatory sequences were lost. So don’t worry if you don’t understand. You’re supposed to watch it and try to make out what you can – even possibly develop your own individual theories. Maybe Kubrick didn’t intend for that, but it’s best to do so with such an ambiguous picture (Mulholland Drive another example). Anyway, anyway, the film is incredible if you enter the appropriate frame of mind for watching it. If you are expecting an elaborate story with emotion and edge-of-your-seat thrills, rest for half an hour whilst re-setting your brain and then prepare yourself for a film that revolutionised the way stories could be told. Also bare in mind that this film was made almost ten years before star-wars, and the effects are undoubtedly superior.The film is purely beautiful. There is almost no dialogue, and this helps isolate the characters and increase the sense of desolation in space. I don’t want to give too much away in the way of story, but it genuinely does become interesting, and mysterious.You just have to stand the long sequences, the silence, the darkness, and appreciate the beauty, the music complementing the scenes, and the actual size of the film as a whole – it is a HUGE production for its time. Every single frame of all the effects shots were stenciled by hand – at Kubrick’s demand.If you don’t think yourself one for standing long films without hollywood stories, stay away from this one. otherwise, watch it, get confused, think about it, develop your own idea, and then watch it again to just appreciate it. you can spend all the time you want analyzing the metaphorical politics of the picture, as you can with almost every picture made! – but some might argue that the story is too insubstantial for such debate. Genuinely, it is a great film: Stunning to look at, great to listen to, and interestingly thought provoking.
2. Alex Fell says:

   January 17, 2005 at 9:44 pm

   Rating

   A perusal of the other reviews of this film show a sharp division in people’s views: some people love this film (and I am one of those) and other people find it unutterably dull. I personally reckon that this difference is down to what people think a science fiction film should do.If you think that Star Wars (or something like that) is the best SF film ever made, AVOID 2001. You will be disappointed. However, it should be pointed out that while Star Wars (to continue the example) is an excellent, highly entertaining film, it ain’t, to be quite frank, science fiction at all. Why not? Because there is absolutely no science in it, and it does not hinge upon any scientific ideas (physical or social). You could take away the light sabres and the Force and all the other SF trappings, and it would work perfectly well as a fantasy movie (which is what it is), a gangster movie, a western, whatever. It deals with themes of good and evil, relationships between fathers and sons, and redemption (albeit somewhat cartoonishly, but still fabululous to look at). But these are not “science fiction” themes, but much more universal ideas (unsurprisingly, since Lucas drew his ideas from Joseph Campbell’s analysis of the core themes of human myth).SF, on the other hand, tries to take some sort of scientific idea or current trend, and give it a twist, pushing it into the future to explore that idea by exaggerating it. The film Soylent Green, for example, took the fears of overpopulation that were prevalent in the 1960s and imagined a future with massive overpopulation. Perhaps not the most compelling film in the world, but “proper” science fiction. 2001 considers what might happen if inscutable aliens were steering human evolution, to whatever mysterious ends they might have. This definition of science fiction is largely based on that of science fiction literature. 2001 had the ultimate SF writer of the period, Arthur C Clarke, on board, so the film ended up much more like a cinema version of a science fiction novel. It was also made before the time of the cinema “blockbuster” – Star Wars was arguably the first of these, for better and worse. As such, 2001′s aesthetic was shaped much more by literary science fiction, and also by the somewhat bleak and chilly eye of Kubrick, and much less by the needs for non-stop action to keep the popcorn brigade happy.The film is oddly paced by some standards, and not a lot happens in a conventional sense. It also at the end commits the “sin” of not actually explaining itself (it is slightly unfair to expect people to read the book of 2001 to understand the ending of the film, but on the other hand spoonfeeding the audience can be a tad patronising). (I won’t go into details on the film itself as there are plenty of other reviews.)But for me, the film is only one to really get close to what it just might be like to interact with a vastly powerful and hugely advanced alien civilisation, compared to which we are barely developed. It is also an antidote to the “Star Trek” notion of alien-ness (we are all human, only some of us are blue with little antennae on our heads). It is “sense of wonder” brought to the cinema screen in a way no other film has got close. If you like Pitch Black more, well, you are entitled to your tastes. But then again, maybe you just didn’t know what you were looking at.
3. Andy Millward says:

   June 15, 2005 at 8:47 am

   Rating

   If you’re going to watch 2001: A Space Odyssey at home, start by obtaining the largest screen available. Connect to it the daddy of all home cinema sound systems and a first rate DVD player (all will be revealed below.) Find a comfortable chair at some distance from your mega screen, close the curtains and dowse the light. Sit, hit Play on the remote and prepre to be engaged and enraptured for 2 hours and more. Regular review readers will know I’m a huge fan of Kubrick, but from his oeuvre this is arguably the masterpiece. Why? Well, to begin with, remember Kubrik made 2001 in 1968. In other words, his dazzling foray into space preceded Armstrong’s first step on the moon. And the result has been the template for most space adventures made since. Even Alien makes nods to 2001. Only Tartakovsky’s original Solaris (not the inferior Soderbergh remake) comes close in terms of the sheer grandeur, but that film was made in 1970 and is at least partially derivative. Next, view the epic scale, grandeur and timelessness, a quality possessed by very few cinematic productions. Although you could hardly imagine anything more different to his works, I’m quite sure Cecil B DeMille would have been delighted by 2001. Consider too how Kubrick has adopted an unhurried pace, yet never the film never lags. For example, there are only two relatively brief recognisible conversations in the first 40 minutes of this film, yet so much more has been communicated to you in the meantime. Less truly is more, and you need a huge screen to appreciate how Kubrick’s majestic spacescape. Visually, this is an awesome experience, but would never have achieved the same effect without the pioneering use of classical music, notably Strauss waltzes and, famously, Also Sprach Zarathustra, married to the elegaic pictures of space craft floating gracefully around the solar system. Then, consider the plot, based on Arthur C Clarke’s novel. It’s remarkably simple, furnished with few characters and sparing dialogue by Kubrick and Clarke’s screenplay, yet always intriguing and enigmatic. Somehow one needs no more, and the relative space (no pun intended) allows each character and their motivations to mature and reflect on the situation in which they find themselves. The anti-hero is of course HAL9000, the eerily voiced malfunctioning supercomputer, but ultimately it is Keir Dullea’s Bowman who is reborn in a strange but comforting home environmet after enduring a hypnotic, if not hallucinogenic kaleidoscope of images on his journey to Jupiter. Make no mistake, this is a film you could not forget in a hurry, and you’ll need to watch several times to appreciate its art. Shame the DVD package doesn’t include any documentaries about this historic achievement, but there are some around if you look – that’s worth seeing in its own right.
4. Mr. A. E. Thomas says:

   November 13, 2006 at 4:48 pm

   Rating

   An extra-terrestrial intelligence plants black monoliths on Earth, on the Moon and at the edge of the solar system in order to monitor man’s evolutionary and technological progress. As apes learn to use tools, develop into Homo Sapiens and ultimately travel into space the monoliths signal these key stages of development back to their makers. Mankind’s production of artificial intelligence and the “man vs machine” battle of wits with HAL creates the sense that mankind is never in control of its own destiny but rather, like a child, always “at the edge” of its capabilities and struggling to learn and grow. The film ends with the super-intelligent, super-developed God-like extra-terrestial entity placing man into his true context – as a bewildered child re-born into the cosmos to enter a new stage of superhuman development.
5. stuart says:

   August 6, 2007 at 3:19 am

   Rating

   2001: a Space Odyssey is without a doubt the most challenging and successful film by the late Stanley Kubrick. This is not a film that you watch in order to be entertained or amused. Instead it provides you with a banquet of food for thought, images that linger in the mind’s eye long after the movie itself is over. It is a film that you could meditate on.

   The film intentionally offers us more questions then it can answer, it is made to puzzle and mystify, but leaves the viewer nevertheless with a sense of awe and reverence (that is allowing that he has engaged himself in the process of viewing it, enjoyment of this film requires some effort on the viewers part) the questions that it does pose are large and ominous, concerning the genesis and destiny of the human race, it’s ultimate place in the cosmic design and the existence or lack of some creative intelligence behind the structure of the universe itself.

   The first of the films Four Quartets gives us a distinct view of the species past. We see our distant ancestors, half-ape half human, in a state of near starvation. The climate has destroyed most of the plant life and the vegetarian beasts are near starvation. An extra-terestial object, a perfectly smooth and angular black monolith, appears and the animals are simultaneously inspired by it’s presence to tool-making and violence. They are transformed overnight into carnevores, and when two tribes encounter each other near a water source, the tribe that has developed tool making capacity, as well as beligerence, soundly destroys the neighboring tribe. The new chief of the winning tribe, empowered by the first vestiges of technology triumphantly throws the bone that he used as a weapon in the air. We see the bone transformed into a floating satellite, which contains nuclear weapons. We soon learn that the world is torn apart by nuclear paranoia. The characteristics inspired by the monument’s appearance that once helped us to survive now threaten our very existence.

   Once again humanity is in crisis, once again the unearthly presence represented by the black monolith will step in to aid humanity in the next step in it’s development. On an exploration of the Moon a monolith identical to the earlier one we have seen is discovered. The governments of the world, normally mortal enemies, have come together in secret to discuss the implications. A mission is arranged. the monument has been engaged in some kind of radio communication with Jupiter. A few men will travel to the destination of the transmission. Most of them will, for most of the time, be kept in a state of suspended animation. The pilot of the spacecraft will be HAL a super computer who has been programmed to imitate all of the traits of human beings.

   The film has many outstanding sequences. As usual for Kubrick the use of classical music is outstanding. Most memorable are “Blue Danube” and “Also Spake Zarathustra” (particularly appropriate given the film’s theme of transcending ordinary consciousness.) The cinematography is particularly excellent as well, after a single viewing the film’s final 30 minutes will haunt you for the rest of your life.

   The character of HAL is the most important from the view of the film’s central thesis. In imitating all the characteristics of human beings he comes to have their negative traits as well. The paranoia he develops which almost leads to the mission’ s ruin is an exact mirror of the paranoia that has allowed the political situation back on earth to reach a point of desperate crisis. The film suggests that these are the traits that we must leave behind if we are to proceed to the next phase in our evolution.

   The architecture of the film is also meaningful. The designs of many of the spacecraft are intended to suggest reproductive organs and the process of birth and rebirth, the central motif of the movie. The ending of 2001 is the most spectacular and triumphant ever filmed.

   This movie takes a view of life similar to that presented in the poetry of William Butler Yeats and James Joyce’s novel Finnegan’s Wake. It posits a pattern to history and human evolution that is cyclic, yet progressive, repeating the same events at large intervals, yet with the human race as developing according to the will of a being with a larger purpose in mind. Though we never learn what this purpose is, the film assures us that the human race is not meant for failure, it’s destiny is grand beyond it’s capacity to imagine. It continues to amaze me that in spite of this film many people continue to regard Kubrick as a misanthrope.

   This is a religious film, not in the conventional sense of adhering to any specific creed, but because of it’s invocation of wonder at the vast panorama of existence and it’s involvement with the deepest and most vital questions of purpose and truth.

   In the hands of any other director, this would all be perhaps a little too much. Hollywood’s view of life is too puny, usually to encompass the grandeur and intensity of a vision such as this one. But Kubrick was a visionary, he directs with utter confidence, not only that he can handle material of this kind, but that he is the only one to do it. The process of making this film used all of his creative resources. The writing partnership with Arthur C Clarke is the most fruitful in cinematic history. Kubrick had to invent some of the special effects that were used in the movie’s astounding climax. The resources to bring his vision to life did not exist at the time, so he brought them into existence.

   2001 is a absolutely unique movie experience. Those who miss out on it do so at the detriment of their own intellectual and imaginative capacities.
6. P. White says:

   March 20, 2008 at 3:42 am

   Rating

   As has been reported this disc does have an FBI warning at the beginning but is otherwise a UK release. The packaging is for the UK. I love this film, have done for 35 years so I won’t comment on the movie itself except to say that 95% of the visuals could have been made yesterday and that the story is fiercely intelligent. And so to the Blu-Ray disc:
   The transfer is good. There are very few anomalies (and I don’t mean Tycho Magnetic Anomalies), most of the anomalies that are present were built in, eg dirt on the rear projection screen in the Dawn of Man sequence. That brings me to my only real irritation with the film. If Stanley Kubrick was such a perfectionist (and he was) then why oh why did he allow the set designers to use a godawful backcloth screen to simulate the African terrain and sky? It’s SO blaringly obvious that it’s artificial because the viewer can see creases and imperfection in the fabric. It ruins the whole sequence. It was bad enough on DVD but with the extra resolution of Blu-ray it’s just annoying. It’s the one things that I wish someone would digitally correct.
   After that all is well. Yes they got the Earth from space wrong (too washed out) but the SFX are stunningly good and look marvellous in HD. It amused me to read IBM-Tele-Pad on the Discovery crew’s flat screen TV pads (whilst they’re eating). There’s a multitude of fine detail revealed: the ancillary rooms inside the lunar shuttle docking area reveal figures and screens that I’d not noticed before. The Star-Gate sequence looks a LOT better now. The finer detail and improved colour range of HD really adds some wow factor to it. I’m still not convinced by the colour filtered landscapes though: they could have tried harder there.
   The audio is good. The soundtrack is good as it can be for a 40 year old film and despite being a little ‘thin’ is well within modern standards.
   Frame judder is a slight problem as reported by another reviewer but I’m wondering whether that was a limitation of the original effects rather than the transfer to Blu-Ray because the same scenes in SD in the extras reveal the same judder.
   The extras are many but none good. There’s a very iffy Channel-4 documentary with some annoying talking heads discussing the film and various other small documentaries. None make the heart race. The best is a promotional film made for ‘Look’ Magazine in 1966 that was designed to interest potential advertisers in buying into a ‘special’ Space related supplement due to be published first quarter 68 on the back of the 2001 release. It shows some really interesting scenes of production, Kubrick on set etc and Clarke in the Grumman factory inspecting Lunar Modules.
   There’s something weird about this release. Amazon had a release date that has been a gone with no stock. The other Kubrick related releases appeared on time but not this one leading me to think there’s been a production problem. It is possible to obtain a copy elsewhere and if you like 2001 it’s worth doing so.
7. Giorginetto says:

   April 6, 2008 at 8:27 pm

   Rating

   One needs reminding him/herself that this movie was filmed prior to the Apollo 11 Lunar Landing. Thers is the Orbital station, the lunar station and spaceshifts ( with IBM computer navigation screens with 3D graphics, the AI system HAL ( named after one letter prior to I.B.M.) , playing chess, watching, thinking, killing and ultimately begging for its existence, the Alien’s Monolith and the absolutley visually stunning trip inside it and the last few minutes ( Dave’s rebirth ) making this ( in my opinion ) a true masterpiece and a milestone for cinema.

   Not that far off from the Lost Worlds of 2001 book, the idea of an Alien intelligence guiding our evolution is without doubt breathtaking and surely has references to religion and philoshophy and is portrayed in the movie. On the other hand the evolution of technology and the birth of AI and logial probable consequences are also portrayed in a chilling fashion. Cryogenic sleep/space travel, telephones with handsfree and live video are also portrayed making this surely a rather ‘ way ahead of its time ‘ movie in 1968. The Blue Ray version does justice to the stunning visual effects and its a movie/ BR disc worth having
8. Kenneth F. Mcara says:

   August 15, 2008 at 12:42 am

   Rating

   It was with a certain trepidation that I put this, my first blu-ray disk, into my new Panasonic blu-ray player. “2001: a space odyssey” has been my favourite film for as long as I can remember, and I’ve owned copies on a variety of VHS tapes and DVDs.

   The theme is just about as epic as it’s possible to imagine: the evolution of man from ape through human to a completely new life form. It’s a film which has sharply polarised views, with some people completely mystified or even bored by the presentation, whilst others are spellbound and deeply moved. Unsurprisingly, I am in the second category, and still find myself surprised that Kubrick managed to get a major motion picture company to finance such a bold and imaginative film.

   The presentation on blu-ray is beyond my wildest dreams. I take the point of a previous viewer about the visible joins in the front-projection screens, which could no doubt have been digitally removed, but other than that the film is in appropriately pristine condition. I sat down to watch for a few minutes – just to check that the new blu-ray player was working – and found myself watching the whole way through to the end.

   The special effects were always a highlight of the film, and they do not disappoint in this new transfer. My particular favourite comes at the end of the first section of The Blue Danube where the camera appears to sail straight through between the ‘wheels’ of the space station – absolutely marvellous!

   This film easily holds its place amongst other great cinema masterworks; watch this blu-ray version and find out exactly why.
9. Chris A says:

   December 12, 2008 at 10:42 am

   Rating

   This is essential for all Blu-Ray playing sci-fi fans. I have seen this in the Cinema, so I knew this was good visually. It certainly stands up to the latest films. What is really special is the pacing of the film. recent films drown you in atmospheric music, silence is not allowed, nor is long shots. Director are now afraid to give the audience pause, there has to be constant cuts and wobbly hand held shots to make it ‘real’. 2001 shows how it can be done.
10. Mr. Stuart Bruce says:

    February 8, 2010 at 7:10 am

    Rating

    Having only ever seen “2001″ in standard definition, seeing it in Blu-Ray is a revelation. The special effects are all the more stunning- I never released the level of complexity and detail that existed in ‘the Blue Danube scenes’, and to see the vortex effect towards the end of the film in such remastered clarity was absolutely stunning. You can read the detail on every computer screen (except they weren’t done by computers, making them all the more impressive). You can even read the small print on the instructions for the Zero Gravity Toilet. Despite having watched the DVD several times, watching it on Blu-Ray felt like watching it for the first time. It’s a beautiful film, amazingly presented.

    As well as a stunning feature, the Blu-ray has a whole range of extras, from a hilariously dated contemporary “Behind The Scenes” from the late 60s to new James Cameron-fronted documentaries about the impact of 2001 both on cinema and on story-telling, and arguably on the space race.

    Obviously at 140 minutes long and being so slow-paced at times, it might not convert a new generation to loving it, but it might. Nevertheless it’s a classic film that really should be in every Blu-ray collection.