2001: A Space Odyssey
I can’t think of a way to start reviewing 2001: A Space Odyssey, because it may be the best film I have ever scene, and there are endless things to discuss and analyze. The movie does a phenomenal job of so many things from the plot, motifs, the camera work and the portrayal of the the future, I could easily spend a day gushing about how awesome this movie is.
If I have to start somewhere, I guess I’ll begin with the plot. The film opens with early Hominid creatures (think human-like chimps), eating, socializing, and eventually developing tools out of animal bone. On the dawn of one morning, we see the hominid swarm a black monolith has been planted in the ground presumably by an intelligent being. The story then jumps to the future where we are introduced to space ships in orbit around the earth and a lunar base where the government is working on a secret project. It turns out that the government has uncovered evidence of intelligent life on the moon, and a group of scientists and other government investigators exit a spacecraft to study the object which turns out to be another black monolith.
Again, the story shifts into the future where we are aboard a spaceship piloted by Dr. Frank Poole, Dr. David Bowman, and an artificial computer intelligence known as Hal. Also aboard are several other scientists in cryogenic sleep. While en route to Jupiter Hal begins to question the objective of their mission to Jupiter, and alerts the crew that there is a malfunctioning piece of equipment.
Throughout the scenes, the camera treats Hal as though it is another human aboard the ship, switching the camera to an orange light closely resembling a human eye whenever Hal talks. One of my favorite things about this movie is the way it explores artificial intelligence and how computers might develop emotion. In one scene, Hal sees Frank and Dave discussing how they might need to turn off Hal, to which Hal responds by later throwing Frank into space without oxygen. While Dave goes after goes after Frank to try and rescue him, Hal shuts off life support to the cryogenically frozen men aboard, and all of them die. When Dave tries to re-enter the ship, Hal bars him, in this famous scene.
The scenes with Hal including when Dave shuts off Hal build suspense with close ups on characters for extended periods of time. Before Hal kills Frank, we slowly follow the ship’s movements and only hear Frank’s rhythmic breathing. The slow lead up to Hal throwing Frank off of his vessel makes the viewer much more sensitive to the sudden change. Throughout the film there are usage of long shots like these, showing the movement of spacecrafts and planets, something that helps put in perspective the behavior of the individual characters.
I can’t properly write a review for this movie without mentioning the camerawork. Given the limited technology and lack of access to computer generated effects, it is amazing how well Space Odyssey captures weightlessness. In the beginning of the scene where the spaceship travels to Jupiter, we see Frank running across the curved wall of a flat cylindrical room, showing the audience exactly how the notion of up and down are non existent in space. In other scenes characters sometimes shift which wall or floor they walk on, erasing our primitive intuitive notion that there is always an up or down. Long lasting shots fixate on certain people, objects, or landscapes much longer than in most films, making Space Odyssey more intimate, and allowing for dramatic buildup.
In addition to all of the plot and camera related matters of this film, there is a lot that it gets right scientifically, in both prediction and accurate representation of science and engineering. The shots that are in space have no sound except when we can hear characters talking or breathing through their radios. All of the spaceships are built to serve human needs for specific spatial qualities, in contrast to many science fiction films that make spaceships aerodynamic, a quality unnecessary in a space where there isn’t air. The movie makes a few predictions, including the existence of tablet computers, computers capable of playing chess, and artificial intelligence. Although Hal does not exist yet, researchers are certainly not far from creating something similar.
Citations:
1. Kubrick, Stanley, dir. 2001: A Space Odyssey. Warner Bros., 1968. Film. 28 Mar 2014.
Note: I have omitted any comments regarding the last 20 minutes of the film because it hurt my head. Also, I can’t think of any way to describe it or analyze it using words. If you are interested in viewing it, here’s a link. It’s missing the last few minutes, but again, I can’t talk about it without my head hurting. Still some amazing sequences, just hard to describe.
I can’t think of a way to start reviewing 2001: A Space Odyssey, because it may be the best film I have ever scene, and there are endless things to discuss and analyze. The movie does a phenomenal job of so many things from the plot, motifs, the camera work and the portrayal of the the future, I could easily spend a day gushing about how awesome this movie is.
If I have to start somewhere, I guess I’ll begin with the plot. The film opens with early Hominid creatures (think human-like chimps), eating, socializing, and eventually developing tools out of animal bone. On the dawn of one morning, we see the hominid swarm a black monolith has been planted in the ground presumably by an intelligent being. The story then jumps to the future where we are introduced to space ships in orbit around the earth and a lunar base where the government is working on a secret project. It turns out that the government has uncovered evidence of intelligent life on the moon, and a group of scientists and other government investigators exit a spacecraft to study the object which turns out to be another black monolith.
Again, the story shifts into the future where we are aboard a spaceship piloted by Dr. Frank Poole, Dr. David Bowman, and an artificial computer intelligence known as Hal. Also aboard are several other scientists in cryogenic sleep. While en route to Jupiter Hal begins to question the objective of their mission to Jupiter, and alerts the crew that there is a malfunctioning piece of equipment.
Throughout the scenes, the camera treats Hal as though it is another human aboard the ship, switching the camera to an orange light closely resembling a human eye whenever Hal talks. One of my favorite things about this movie is the way it explores artificial intelligence and how computers might develop emotion. In one scene, Hal sees Frank and Dave discussing how they might need to turn off Hal, to which Hal responds by later throwing Frank into space without oxygen. While Dave goes after goes after Frank to try and rescue him, Hal shuts off life support to the cryogenically frozen men aboard, and all of them die. When Dave tries to re-enter the ship, Hal bars him, in this famous scene.
The scenes with Hal including when Dave shuts off Hal build suspense with close ups on characters for extended periods of time. Before Hal kills Frank, we slowly follow the ship’s movements and only hear Frank’s rhythmic breathing. The slow lead up to Hal throwing Frank off of his vessel makes the viewer much more sensitive to the sudden change. Throughout the film there are usage of long shots like these, showing the movement of spacecrafts and planets, something that helps put in perspective the behavior of the individual characters.
I can’t properly write a review for this movie without mentioning the camerawork. Given the limited technology and lack of access to computer generated effects, it is amazing how well Space Odyssey captures weightlessness. In the beginning of the scene where the spaceship travels to Jupiter, we see Frank running across the curved wall of a flat cylindrical room, showing the audience exactly how the notion of up and down are non existent in space. In other scenes characters sometimes shift which wall or floor they walk on, erasing our primitive intuitive notion that there is always an up or down. Long lasting shots fixate on certain people, objects, or landscapes much longer than in most films, making Space Odyssey more intimate, and allowing for dramatic buildup.
In addition to all of the plot and camera related matters of this film, there is a lot that it gets right scientifically, in both prediction and accurate representation of science and engineering. The shots that are in space have no sound except when we can hear characters talking or breathing through their radios. All of the spaceships are built to serve human needs for specific spatial qualities, in contrast to many science fiction films that make spaceships aerodynamic, a quality unnecessary in a space where there isn’t air. The movie makes a few predictions, including the existence of tablet computers, computers capable of playing chess, and artificial intelligence. Although Hal does not exist yet, researchers are certainly not far from creating something similar.
Citations:
1. Kubrick, Stanley, dir. 2001: A Space Odyssey. Warner Bros., 1968. Film. 28 Mar 2014.
Note: I have omitted any comments regarding the last 20 minutes of the film because it hurt my head. Also, I can’t think of any way to describe it or analyze it using words. If you are interested in viewing it, here’s a link. It’s missing the last few minutes, but again, I can’t talk about it without my head hurting. Still some amazing sequences, just hard to describe.