2001: A Space Odyssey (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray)

Description

Stanley Kubrick redefined the limits of filmmaking in his classic science fiction masterpiece, a contemplation on the nature of humanity, 2001: A Space Odyssey. Stone Age Earth: In the presence of a mysterious black obelisk, pre-humans discover the use of tools--and weapons--violently taking first steps toward intelligence. 1999: On Earth's moon astronauts uncover another mysterious black obelisk. 2001: Between Earth and Jupiter, the spacecraft's intelligent computer makes a mistake that kills most of the human crew--then continues to kill to hide its error. Beyond Time: The sole survivor of the journey to Jupiter ascends to the next level of humanity. Review: 2001: A Space Odyssey - Bring Your Thinking Helmet - 2001 is an epic film that suffers from the passage of time. In the 50+ years since its release, audiences have becomes a lot less patient and analytic towards movies such as this one. Stanley Kubrick's set of well-renowned classics all have a touch of this to varying degrees, but 2001 is admittedly a hard watch for first time viewers. I had seen this movie twice previously, both times in full, and couldn't quite wrap my head around why this film was not only popular, but held to be one of the greatest films of all-time. It was upon the third viewing that I had all of the pieces click and I finally understood, or at least felt that I understood some of the messages that the film tries to convey. It's a film that requires the utmost of patience at a nearly two and a half hour run-time, and it doesn't do you any favors. It starts with a long sequence that features no dialogue, grand orchestral music, and a lot of monkeys/apes. In doing so, you are required to immediately forget what you know about movies that lay stories out for you and allow you to settle in. You have no context at this point, and it's mostly monkeys fighting over natural resources, land, and getting into tribal feuds. While it's not largely important to the main plot featured in the latter half of the film, it's a very heavy, visual concept that helps to sink the ending and overall story into your brain. After the first 30 minutes or so of no dialogue, we are thrust into space with a new character that again is only featured for about 15-20 minutes prior to the main story of the film. This, is the other contextual piece to what has already been seen, and sets out to show how humans are exploring and analyzing space in an aggressive way because of a new discovery. These two initial pieces are definitely needed in the film and can't be cut, because of their importance to the themes and overall presentation of the story. They really require the viewer to hold their attention, because after each one you're seemingly left with zero information on what the movie is actually about other than a large black rectangle, which is very simple yet complex. This wondrous black rectangle is essentially what the viewer is looking for throughout the film, and represents knowledge of man, the universe, and perhaps much more depending on the viewer. Then, we settle into the meat of the film which features two actors and a voice actor in mostly enclosed spaces, further requiring the viewer to detach themselves from what a typical movie usually plays out as. We've seen apes, we've seen spacemen exploring, we've seen tons of beautiful shots, and then are dumped into a space station with 2 people alone. It's stark, quiet, and still lacking a lot of dialogue, but this is where the plot begins. The super computer HAL 9000 has notified them of a malfunction but the two conscious crew members doubt the robot's diagnosis of the problem. This is when the film gets interesting, if you're still there... and is what the movie wants you to remember after watching. HAL 9000 is an OG villain, extremely cold and calculated, and all in all is just an intelligent computer advertised as "perfection". The uneasiness and skepticism surrounding technology in the modern era is very well-packaged into this robot character of HAL. There is a reason that this film and specifically this character are frequently referenced and repackaged into other films that take place in the science fiction genre to this day. Odds are you've seen a robot with a red eye, or a highly superior artificial intelligence try to conquer mankind in a movie before. For the rest of the film, we see the struggle of man vs. robot, knowledge of man vs. artificial intelligence, and thus showcase the unique talents of Stanley Kubrick to paint a picture broader than the film itself. Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood shine as the crew members cast opposite of the robot, who was voiced by Douglas Rain throughout the film, sometimes played by Stanley off-screen. Their smarts as astronauts really put them in a unique situation, because they think of almost everything they can to fix their situation and get home safely. For a film as old as it is, it's really well done to show that astronauts are not stupid characters in a film manufactured on their own, but rather they take all of the necessary precautions to try and survive their predicament. However HAL has other plans, and this film devolves into a psychological sci-fi thriller the likes of which we'll probably never see again. The sterile, white interiors of the ship with the vastness of space combined with the excellent early miniature work really create just as much tension and again serve as visual examples that are still used and reused in science fiction films to this day. There are plenty of great Special Features included in this release, but unfortunately I found the film commentary to be lacking from Gary Lockwood and Keir Dullea. I like Keir's commentary, but Lockwood's is mostly depressing and shows perhaps his outlook on life at the time of recording. Both commentaries seem to be pieced together either from separate sessions or interviews, and at times seem to stray away from the film itself. It's interesting to hear their thoughts over the playtime of the movie, especially due to its length and lack of dialogue, but I wouldn't go as far as saying it's a definitive commentary for fans of the film. This edition also includes the 4 inserts pictured, in an envelope along with a standard black 4K case that all fit snugly into the cardboard box also pictured. The box has a foil-shine to the red which really make it pop on the shelf, and I'm incredibly happy to finally own this movie in this edition. The 4K, Blu-ray, and digital copies are all included in this release. I have watched the film over the years in DVD and Blu-ray formats, and while I do think that this popped in 4K, I didn't think that it exceeded the Blu-ray transfer in any visible way. If you don't own the film already but are a newer fan like me, I'd highly recommend this collector-ish set at its current price point of $25. If you're an owner of the Blu-ray versions, I'd only recommend if the Special Features are any different but I do not think they are. Of course, if you're a fan of the film and also into 4K... well we all know that the beautiful visual presentation of this story is worth viewing in whichever format you feel is superior. Just remember that when you're watching this film, it's being shown to you through a big, black rectangle... Review: The Most Influential Film Ever Made - This review covers the film — not the specific BluRay presentation. I’ll review that later. Within the industry and art form of motion pictures, the importance and influence of Kubrick’s “2001: a space odyssey” cannot be overstated or even overestimated. There is quite possibly no other film that has had the level of impact and inspiration on subsequent generations of filmmakers and the art of filmmaking that 2001 has had. Yet for many modern film viewers, the movie is often perceived as dull, opaque, unfathomable and pretentious. In fact, when 2001 debuted it received many of the same criticisms. The film was pilloried by critics and at premiere screenings audiences booed and even walked out of theaters. But despite this initial reaction, audiences lined up to see the movie. The film became not just a commercial success, but a popular phenomenon with the younger generation of movie-goers in the 60s. Partially fueled by the drug and counter-culture of the time — 2001 was ultimately accepted in the way Kubrick had intended — people went to “experience” the movie. Instead of being told a clear, specific story with conflicts and resolutions, 2001 presented the audience with a grand mythological journey — from the origins of humans to their technological future and beyond. And it did so by abandoning the conventions of storytelling and asking the viewer to simply absorb the sights and sounds of the film and allow themselves to have an instinctual, emotional response. 2001 is not a movie that delivers the standard conventions of plot and character in a 3 act structure. It does not follow the rules and precepts of Joseph Campbell’s “Hero Of a Thousand Faces” that so many thousands of screenwriters were told to adhere to lest they lose the audience’s attention and interest. 2001 is a narrative. But it is a meta narrative. Its story concerns the very nature of existence. It proposes a secular solution to the mystery of life. How did we get get here? Are we alone? Clarke and Kubrick imagined a a story that answered the notion of why humans are self aware and technologically capable by way of a mythology that is based on the mystery of science. Science so deep and advanced, we cannot distinguish it from magic. Kubrick wanted a movie that told the story of mankind’s evolution in the universe — from lowly ape to early man to eventually a Superman. The next step in higher intelligence. Kubrick was drawn to an Arthur C. Clarke short story that suggested an advanced alien race travels the universe looking for nascent intelligence and then once discovered, helps it along in critical next steps steps of cognitive abilities. Just enough to see if the formative intelligence becomes capable of developing technology that allows that to start traveling their local solar system and exploring their origins. The aliens leave a buried artifact on the closest nearby moon that — when uncovered — signals to the aliens that — yes indeed — this group of intelligence has made the leap — and are now possibly ready for the next step in evolution. To achieve this — Kubrick felt that trying to tell this story in ordinary fashion with lots of dialogue and conversations and drama would come off as pretentious or hokey — or at the very least would drain the mystical and magical quality he felt the film needed. He knew he had to get the audience to experience such moments of alien contact and alien manipulation of the human mind in way that felt experiential — magical and holy. He knew he needed viewers to have a personal, spiritual experience with the film — not a dramatic one. What Kubrick was seeking was much closer to the experience one has when walking quietly through a massive cathedral — one of the grand medieval cathedrals of Europe — where the person is overwhelmed by the stunning beauty and grandiosity and silence of the cathedral — Kubrick knew he needed the viewer to experience space in this manner. And that is why the movie seems slow to many modern, younger viewers. Kubrick needed you to sit in the cathedral of space — and in the austerely beautiful technology of 2001 — in order that you could absorb the reality of the mind-bending spiritual myth he was laying on you. SPOILERS In traditional narrative-sense, Kubrick actually moves the story along at quite a clip. Man-apes are fighting for shrubs in a desert. Alien artifact appears. Man-apes learn to use weapons. First murder in human history. A bone club weapon cuts to an orbital nuclear weapon 200,000 years later in 2001. Mystery of something dug up on a moon base. It’s the same artificat we saw with apes. It sends a signal to Jupiter. Humans follow that signal to Jupiter to find out where alien artifact came from — or is leading them to. Along the way, humans murder the first machine intelligence it ever created. A test? The last vestige of violence humans will leave behind? END OF SPOILERS All along the way — Kubrick is telling you the story with an incredibly efficient, fast moving narrative structure — but he also needs the viewer to settle into the elongated time-scape of space travel. Why? Because it’s vital the viewer experience the space mission in a way that gets them to fully believe in what’s happening. To get them to accept what they are watching is real. So that the viewer stops thinking they’re watching a movie. Think of it this way — you’ve gone to see your Dr and you’re placed in a Waiting room — expecting bad news. The longer you sit, the more you absorb all the various specific elements of the waiting room. All the mundane details and objects you see become more than just real — they become important — and the stakes about what you’re going to hear gather weight. Now imagine your Dr is about to tell you mind-bending news about having cancer and needing chemo therapy. Your body is about to be transformed. That long, long moment in the waiting room is all about accepting the reality of that journey. In 2001, humans are in a waiting room about to meet their alien doctor — their alien overlord — who will deliver the prognosis of their future. Life, death or transformation awaits. In other words the “boredom” of 2001 is not a flaw — it’s a feature. A vital feature. Beyond that — it’s nearly impossible to explain to the young film movie-goer how far advanced the effects of 2001 were at their time. Today’s films have the advantage of powerful computers to easily create seamless special effects of almost type. But back in 1966-67 there were no computer—generated effects. No CGI. It was all created on film. Analogue film. Multiple shots on differed strips of films are combined in an optical printer to look like they are all in one shot. Think of it as “artisanal” special effects — hand-crafted special effects. Even Doug Trumbull’s breakthrough slit-scan device that created the very computer-generated-looking Star Gate sequence that gives a dizzying sensation of flying through a wormhole of wildly colorful light — was a hand-built machine that achieved the illusion of fast movement with stop-motion animation — requiring days of filming to create just seconds of screen time. Same with the interior sets. All real. All painstakingly built by hand. Many of them rotated. The giant centrifuge set for the Discovery set was a massive Ferris wheel. Cameras and actor bolted to floor while it turns. The Dawn of Man man-apes were created with costume designs that were decades ahead of their time — all donned by a mime troupe that spent months studying real ape movements. The effect was so convincing that many people simply assumed real apes had been trained to “act out” the scenes. To the point where make-up and costume designer Stuart Freeborn’s amazing accomplishment was completely overlooked by the Academy awards — giving best make-up effects instead to the much more primitive and unconvincing “Planet of the Apes.” In the end, 2001 is not a film to be seen like one would go see Star Wars or a Marvel movie. It’s not entertainment. Its not a consumable flight of fancy — no matter how enjoyable those types of movies are. As pretentious as this sounds — 2001 is a work of art. It’s meant to challenge the viewer. To stimulate their senses and creat an instinctive impression. It’s not meant to be easily understood. It is a film that was made to present a mythology of how humanity came into existence. So it’s meant to be an experience. You can’t have normal movie expectations when you watch it. There’s no bad guy. No good guy. Justice is not served. It’s much bigger than that. It’s more — “What if we’re here because of alien intervention? And what if we passed the aliens’ first test? And they want us to take the next step in evolution? Evolution that will open our minds the inner workings and mysteries of the universe? We will become beings that will be capable of transforming matter and energy in a way that appears entirely magical to us now? Kubrick knew he couldn’t tell that story in normal Chris Nolan terms. Not even in Marvel Thanos Iron Man Capt Marvel tesseract terms. That’s why 2001 is not a normal movie to watch. It’s a cinematic experience the likes of which we have never seen before.