Just watched this film again (I have the BluRay).
Interesting film. It's much more interesting if you read the book first (which I did), as in an effort to make the audience think, Kubrick and Clark went well over the top. Some have suggested that the only reason the movie was somewhat successful was because youngsters would get high and go to watch the "wormhole" effects. The wormhole effects in "Contact" seemed much better, more reasonable and didn't last forever.
The special effects were actually very good (it won an Oscar for them). Considering this film was made some 9 years before the first Star Wars movie (which is generally considered the big bang of special effects movies) they look even better. Oh, there were definitely a few problems (Like gravity in the pod bay, which was outside the "gravity wheel," normal gravity in the meeting room on the moon and a few other like things) but all in all, the effects were indeed "wowzers."
The acting sucked. I think that in an effort to make it realistic, they went overboard and the people all seemed mechanical.
The music was really good. Also Sprach Zarathustra is now ingrained in every person's head over 50 years old. The traveling to the moon sequences backed by Strauss's Blue Danube were great.
The story line was probably one of the first, and best, serious shots at our meetings with extraterrestrials (The first Day the Earth Stood Still is probably the real "first-best" but 2001 is in there too because you had to think your way through it instead of simply watch and absorb). The somewhat strange opening of the movie with the ape/men was weak, because too much was left to the imagination. Again, you read the book and it all comes together.
Definitely a bit dated but still quite a movie. 3.5 out of 5 stars. It's worth a watch, and if you've already seen it, as "re-watch."
Interesting film. It's much more interesting if you read the book first (which I did), as in an effort to make the audience think, Kubrick and Clark went well over the top. Some have suggested that the only reason the movie was somewhat successful was because youngsters would get high and go to watch the "wormhole" effects. The wormhole effects in "Contact" seemed much better, more reasonable and didn't last forever.
The special effects were actually very good (it won an Oscar for them). Considering this film was made some 9 years before the first Star Wars movie (which is generally considered the big bang of special effects movies) they look even better. Oh, there were definitely a few problems (Like gravity in the pod bay, which was outside the "gravity wheel," normal gravity in the meeting room on the moon and a few other like things) but all in all, the effects were indeed "wowzers."
The acting sucked. I think that in an effort to make it realistic, they went overboard and the people all seemed mechanical.
The music was really good. Also Sprach Zarathustra is now ingrained in every person's head over 50 years old. The traveling to the moon sequences backed by Strauss's Blue Danube were great.
The story line was probably one of the first, and best, serious shots at our meetings with extraterrestrials (The first Day the Earth Stood Still is probably the real "first-best" but 2001 is in there too because you had to think your way through it instead of simply watch and absorb). The somewhat strange opening of the movie with the ape/men was weak, because too much was left to the imagination. Again, you read the book and it all comes together.
Definitely a bit dated but still quite a movie. 3.5 out of 5 stars. It's worth a watch, and if you've already seen it, as "re-watch."
