Advantages: Excellent storyline, brilliant effects
Disadvantages: It's loooooooooooooong

...In the mid-1960s Stanley Kubrick wanted to make a science-fiction movie which would deal with the space exploration and the prospect of the existence of extra-terrestrials. He had previously made the satirical DR. STRANGELOVE, which with its theme of nuclear destruction skirted the genre. Here however, working with the acclaimed science-fiction author Arthur C. Clarke, Kubrick came up with the science-fiction classic 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. The film divides audiences, with some viewers believing it is the greatest science-fiction film ever made, whereas others end up baffled and bored. The movie is divided up into four episodes. The first is set millions of years in the past. The second is set at the start of the 21st Century and follows a journey to the moon during which Dr Heywood Floyd visits an excavation which has uncovered... Read review

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Advantages: Superb SF
Disadvantages: Slightly difficult to follow

...I've always described the Stanley Kubrick film of '2001: A Space Odyssey' as "a great motion picture - but a terrible movie". Fortunately Clarke's novel much more of the former. If you've seen the film, you were probably left thinking "What's that all about?", but many things become much clearer in the course of the book. There are some things left unclarified, of course - otherwise we wouldn't have the next three books in the series - but that's part of the quality writing. The plot follows that of the film very closely - the two were written alongside each other - but differs in detail (in the novel we end up at Saturn, not Jupiter) and is 'fleshed out' so that we can actually follow what is going on! Whilst dialogue - and thus character development - is limited, there is enough descriptive writing to allow a great deal of enjoyment... Read review

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Advantages: A masterful cocktail of visuals, music, sound and attention to detail; monumental and influential; mind-blowing and awesome; haunting and mysterious; imeless and ahead of its time
Disadvantages: An acquired taste (though worth the cinematic experience); inevitable to be regarded as overrated; a couple of instances of dated effects

...The connection between Stanley Kubrick, David Lynch and Terrence Malick -- iconic directors working around the same period -- is that they were more artists than directors. Kubrick, however, was the one who really invented the prospect of films that are practically pure art. Inevitably, this limits the films in their appeal, and there's no doubt that films like Eraserhead, Badlands, Days of Heaven, and most importantly, 2001: A Space Odyssey, are such films. But the latter is a film so astonishingly crafted and directed, that there is simply no other picture like it. 2001: A Space Odyssey breaks all boundaries of films and, literally, goes whooshing off into space at light speed with its ambition and genius. Timeless, beautiful, puzzling and amazing beyond belief, no other film ever can or will be like it. Images of a barren, arid... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Incredible film
Disadvantages: None

...2001: A Space Odyssey may not have lived up to its prediction (2001 now and still no monolith), but disregarding that you have here one of the most incredible moments in film-making history. Stanley Kubrick now has incredible cult status with films such as Clockwork Orange and Eyes Wide Shut, but it is 2001 and his collaboration with Arthur C Clarke that really assures his place in history. The opening sequence shows apes on a barren