I never thought I would watch a movie I disliked so much that it would actually make me hate the art form altogether, but “2001” damn near did just that. Immediately after watching that… thing, I literally had a phobia of watching another movie again. Even ones I already knew I liked. I think that film marked the first time I really took stock of my life and the limited amount of time I and everyone else has on this planet. Not for any existential reasons, but because I honestly felt as though I had been robbed of precious little time. I can’t wait to go through and watch several of these films again for a second time, but I will never watch this movie again under any circumstances. I wish I could joke that some of what I am saying is tongue-in-cheek hyperbole, but alas I mean every word I say.
The opening of the film is probably the most interesting of the 4 “acts,” depicting a prehistoric clan of apes in a desert whose actions are set to dramatic, symphonic classical music. To this movie’s credit, the costumes on the apes are fantastic- looking nothing like ridiculous “Planet of the Apes” creatures you would have typically seen at this time. Actually, the costumes and special effects in the whole movie are far ahead of their time and, while I don’t think those singular aspects alone warrant inclusion on the list of “Greatest Films” (maybe “Most Influential” or “Most Ahead of Its Time”) I sincerely hope that was the justification for this movie’s recognition on this list. Speaking of “ahead of its time” I should also mention that, out of nowhere there is a black door/portal-looking structure looming over the apes, which is the only hint of modernism in this scene. It’s inexplicable presence could imply that it was left by some sort of advanced being or that the potential for scientific advancement has always existed. Either way, it is clearly meant to intentionally stick out like a sore thumb.
The apes, while clearly being in some sort of organized tribe, still appear to be docile. When a more antagonistic gang of apes arrives and takes their precious water-source by force, the first band retreats and almost seems to take the defeat lying down. However, as time passes, they discover the bones of a nondescript creature and find that the blunt pieces can be used for practical purposes- first a crude hammer and eventually a violent weapon. The original group returns to their water hole and in a kind of early assassination, kill the rival leader and take back their turf. There is an underlying theme in this initial scene of technological advancement being a good and an evil, as the discovery of the bone-tools clearly serves as a benefit but at the same time, the brutality of their victory also borders on overkill, implying that the accomplishment has awakened a dark and villainous side in the once peaceful creatures.
The monkey-people act ends when one of the apes throws a bone fragment into the air victoriously and as it spins in slow motion a matching jump cut transitions from the mid-air bone to a similar-shaped space station, depicting an almost seamless transition that with today’s technology probably would have been executed with a morphing effect. I don’t think the visual aspect of this cut is as remarkable as the out-of-nowhere jump between two completely different acts and time periods. The way the theme music reaches a climax and the slow motion close-up lets the viewer know something important is about to happen is a little much though. I’m sure people crapped themselves when they saw it at the time though.
The second sequence takes place mostly aboard the space station. There are discussions among higher-ups about a secret discovery on the surface of the moon that needs to be kept quiet. What we have to assume are trusted officials discuss a cover up involving the discovery and the secrecy surrounding it. While this is a completely different setting than the one that was presented before, it still bears the theme of people having the ability to do good or bad things; be it bludgeoning another being to death or making up a story about an epidemic on a spaceship to divert attention from an important government discovery. As it turns out, the secret discovery is another of those funny black portals from before; more likely it is the same one since the scientists investigating the finding mentions that it was buried millions of years ago (presumably the same time as we saw before with the apes).
“I know that you and Frank were planning to disconnect me, and I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen.” (HAL; “2001: A Space Odyssey”)
The core of the film, and the only major protagonist/antagonist scenario depicted in the film takes place shortly thereafter, during yet another space mission- this time to Jupiter. A small crew of astronauts led by David Bowman is introduced to an onboard supercomputer named HAL. The constant repeated assurances that HAL is completely intelligent and incapable of error make it painfully obvious that technology will eventually fail the crew. As it turns out, it isn’t really a technical glitch or a malfunction that causes HAL to jeopardize the mission, but rather a seemingly inexplicable malevolent emotional capacity. The menacing red lens (representative of an all-watching eye) reads the lips of Dave and fellow crew member Frank as they discuss deactivating HAL.
In retaliation, HAL knowingly kills Frank by cutting his oxygen supply and sending him off into space during an attempt to shut HAL down. After methodically killing the other crew members who are in some sort of suspended animation/cryogenic life support chamber, HAL sets his sights on killing Dave when he attempts to recover Frank’s body from floating off into space. Conveniently, Dave forgets his space helmet and gets locked out of the ship by HAL. In a completely absurd and impossible sequence Dave pries open some sort of emergency door on the ship and manages to reenter from his pod because he moved quickly enough to avoid being destroyed by pressurization while still exposing his non-helmeted body to unprotected space. From here on in, this film can’t be taken seriously- not even as a work of science fiction.
Dave deprograms HAL and safely completes the mission to Jupiter, thus ending any interesting conflict that can possibly develop. This final segment also represents the point where the film loses any and all artistic merit and simply becomes a piece of self-gratification committed to celluloid. An almost neverending landing sequence with impressive but ultimately repetitious and redundant revolving color effects drags on and on as the spacecraft strafes the surface of the planet. Mercifully, the film ends rather abruptly as Dave sees visions of himself in various stages of life, the obligatory shot of the portal once again in front of an old man version of Dave. He goes through it and suddenly becomes an entrapped fetus floating around in a womb rather than a space pod; and the “circle of life” message is complete.
The concept of technology and mankind having the potential of being good or evil, the implications of governmental conspiracies and basically having the concept of evolution being a given for the story advancement to work all speak to my liberal sensibilities so much that you would think I would love this movie. But entertainment is more important than politics and this movie totally failed to entertain me.
“2001” completely insists upon itself with the constant forcing of visual effects on the viewer. The open-endedness of the way the narrative can be interpreted completely robs it of its desire to be lofty by not having any definite message; in other words, you can only “get” a movie if there is something concrete to get. Also, I don’t think its too much to ask for there to be some kind of conflict between two or more complex characters. While I am all for bucking conventions, certain things like personalities in characters and some kind of emotion from characters, or for that matter, characters that are capable of emotion are pretty necessary in my book. Maybe I’m just old-school like that…
I am almost upset that I just spent so much time a few blogs back going on about the genius of Stanley Kubrick- and while I believe that genius is still evident I also believe that “2001” represents a complete artistic miss for him. Sometimes you make a “Saving Private Ryan” or a “Philadelphia” and sometimes you make a “Turner and Hooch.” All that is missing from “2001” is a dog and a badge.
I too have tried to watch this movie, but alas, I have always failed to get past the first scene. Blah.
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