‘I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do...’
What could I, an idiot, possibly have to add in terms of analysis for what is already probably the most critically acclaimed and academically lauded film ever made? The answer, of course, is very little. And yet, here we are…
Trying to recount the plot of Stanley Kubrick’s sci-fi masterpiece is a fool’s errand, and although I am very much a fool, I won’t attempt that here. Rest assured, the film begins with the dawn of man and takes us on a journey through time and space, the likes have never been seen before or since. There is a cast, of course, most notably Keir Dullea as lead astronaut Dr David Bowman and Douglas Rain as the voice of HAL 9000, but never in the history of cinema has there been a classic film that is so undefined by its actors. This is Kubrick’s movie. It’s as simple as that. And as a showcase for what the man was capable of achieving with a few models and a video camera, it’s pretty much impeccable.
Co-written with legendary sci-fi writer Arthur C. Clarke, 2001: A Space Odyssey came from Kubrick’s stated desire to make the proverbial “really good” science-fiction movie (he would later apply this same approach to both the war and horror genres). It was divisive at the time (Pauline Kael laughably described it as “a monumentally unimaginative movie”), and it is still divisive even now, but for those with eyes to see, it remains perhaps cinema’s finest ever achievement. It is long without ever being tedious, it forces us to confront the biggest questions (why are we here? Are we alone in the universe? What the fuck is the star child?), and it has moments of real humour whilst simultaneously being one of the most emotionally cold films of any era. Pretty much every sequence here is an all-timer, but the pod bay doors scene is my favourite. It’s haunting and harrowing, it’s as horrifying as anything in the horror genre, and it somehow never ages. In fact, somehow, the whole film is futureproofed. Kubrick consulted with several leading scientists and futurists to create his vision of the future, and despite being almost 60 years old, nothing here feels dated. If anything, the themes, set design and narrative become more prescient with every passing year. The fact that the only film to even come close to the cosmic audacity of 2001: A Space Odyssey is probably Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar is significant because Nolan himself admitted that his film was a direct homage to Kubrick’s (I would go with ‘bad cover version’ myself).
2001: A Space Odyssey is the greatest film of all time precisely because it is so divisive. For something in the world of popular culture to be truly transcendent, to truly endure, it should be challenging. That is the job of great art. To rip the audience out of their comfort zone and force them to confront the things that keep us all awake on those nights when sleep won’t come. If that doesn’t do it for you, then just listen to the soundtrack for chrissakes. Utter genius.
