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

Many think that "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968) is one of the greatest films of all time, and even some think that it's the greatest, and I can say that this Stanley Kubrick masterpiece is one of my favorite films of all time! Everything in this film is absolutely beautiful. The stunning visuals, the harrowing plot, the haunting music, the lush cinematography, the beautiful directing by none other than Kubrick. "2001" is way more than a film. It's a cinema masterpiece like no other, just like Kubrick's other films, like "A Clockwork Orange", or "The Shining". This film is simply one of the greatest. The thing about "2001" is some think it's one of the best, and some think it's one of the worst (although very few, and I don't know why they would hate it so much), but the reason that they hate it is for it's slow pace and that there's only about 40 minutes of dialouge in a 2 1/2 hour movie, but the scenes without dialouge, with slow pace really show the beauty of the film, and only Kubrick could have made each and every scene a masterpiece. If you see it for the first time, you might not like it, but the second or third time you see it, you'll most likely be blown away by the beauty (although in just my first viewing, I absolutely loved it). "2001" is an epic sci-fi that questions life on other planets and human destiny, that apparently gets affected whenever a striking black monolith appears. You may not understand this film fully the first time, but the beauty of Kubrick's films is that it takes a few viewings to understand Kubrick's message, and it's amazing."2001" is broken down into four sections, "The Dawn of Man" where it shows what the title suggests. It shows ape-like humans who learn to fend for themselves. It's about 20 minutes. "TMA-1" shows a Pan-Am space plane orbiting Earth. It focuses on Dr. Heywood Floyd (William Sylvester) going over plans for a trip to Clavius Base, which is on the moon, with a large number of other members to the very futuristic ship. It's about 35-40 minutes "Jupiter Mission: 18 Months Later" shows spaceship Discovery One, with 2 members, Dr. David Bowman (Keir Dullea) and Dr. Frank Poole (Gary Lockwood), and 3 other members in hibernation. On that ship is a very intelligent computer named HAL 9000 (voiced by Douglas Rain), who eventually wreaks havoc to the ship. It's about 55 min.-1 hour long. Finally, "Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite" shows Dr. Bowman's psychadelic and frightening trip through space, which includes the "Stargate sequence", showing flashing lights moving forward for a few minutes, following the next few minutes of cosmic phenomena and strange landscapes that actually kind of creeped me out (I saw this film in the dark), leading to the ending. It's about 25 minutes, leading the film to 2 hours and 28 minutes, including the 3 minute overture, intermission, and exit music, along with ending credits.The special features on this two-disc special edition of "2001" are pretty good, but they felt sort of repetitive to me. The Disc 1 comes with the film, along with a commentary by Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood and the theatrical trailer, and then there's the disc 2. The first special feature is titled "2001: The Making of a Myth". It's about 45 minutes long. It's narrated by James Cameron, and shows different people talking about the making and legacy of the movie. It was pretty good. "Standing on the Shoulders of Kubrick: The Legacy of 2001" is about 20 minutes long and is another film that talks about the legacy of the movie and different film critics, including Roger Ebert (when he could still talk), praising the film. It's really not much that the earlier featurette hasn't said. "Vision of a Future Passed: The Prophecy of 2001" is 20 minutes of Keir Dullea, the main star of "2001" speaking about the film and what Arthur C. Clarke, the author of "2001" wrote and said about it. It also includes black-and-white audio footage of Arthur C. Clarke. It was a pretty good featurette, but I really like the 60's vintage featurette "2001: A Space Odyssey - A Look Behind the Future". It's about 20-25 minutes and it shows the film being made including footage of Stanley Kubrick. It's one of my favorite featurettes. "2001: FX and Early Conceptual Artwork" is 9 minutes long and shows Stanley's wife, Christiane Kubrick, talking about the artwork and paintings made for the famous "Stargate" sequence in the film for 3 minutes, and the rest shows the original sketches and paintings. It's pretty cool. "Look: Stanley Kubrick!" is 3 minutes long and shows a montage of photos Stanley Kubrick shot in his few years before directing when he was still working for "Look! Magazine". Here, you see Stanley's extreme talent for photography, which definitely influenced his creativeness in directing. The real treat here is the 1 hour, 17 minute audio-only interview from 1966, where Jeremy Bernstein interview's Stanley Kubrick, titled "Audio-only interview with Stanley Kubrick". Here, he talks about his childhood, his photography days, his first movie, "Fear and Desire", and later on, talks about each and every one of his films, leading up to "2001", which was still in production at that time. It's extremely interesting and worth listening to. I think it's the best featurette on the second disc."2001: A Space Odyssey" is a truly beautiful, mesmerizing, and amazing film that everybody should see, and it's brilliance just can't fit into the 6000 characters that Amazon reviews allow. All I have to say is, if you haven't seen this Stanley Kubrick masterpiece, see it now! And see it multiple times after that. It's one of the greatest.

I suppose in this era of fruit-fly-like attention spans, many who only consider a film great when it's loaded with cartoon-like characters and lots cartoon-like "action" accompanied by slamming and banging noises, this film would be considered a bore. But in light of, or especially in spite of, the apparent de-generation of intellect in the moviegoing public, the fact that after 50 years 2001: A Space Oddysey can still immerse an open-minded viewer in Clarke's and Kubrick's beautifully-crafted universe and provoke wonder about its ultimate meaning, is a source of wonder in itself. (If nothing else, the film very astutely predicted the potential dangers of AI run amok To be sure, the special effects are still stunningly good and all the more remarkable when you consider that CGI wasn't even a glimmer in anyone's eye in 1968. So put down your damn smart phone, and, as we used to say, tune in, turn on (to the film) and drop out for a while, enjoy the show, and let your mind explore what it all means. If nothing else, enjoy the sheer artistry of it all.

I first saw this film when I was 14, in the year it came out - and to say I was dazzled, confounded, stirred to my soul, is understating my reaction. Certainly I didn't understand its depths at that point, but the surface alone was enough to captivate me & make me think. Since that time, several decades have passed, and I've watched it many times over, gaining more with each viewing.The wildly divergent opinions in the previous reviews tell a story all their own, and demonstrate what a cultural & philosophical Rorschach test this film truly is -- love it or loathe it, there don't seem to be many neutral responses to it. It's definitely not a film for those with short attention spans, or those who want to stay inside a very secure comfort zone. Comfort is the last thing it offers!No need to offer a synopsis. Even if you haven't seen it yet, its themes & images are known to just about everyone -- the apes, the monolith, HAL. Anyway, this isn't a typical narrative. It's much more of a symphonic poem than a regular plot-driven story -- you should surrender yourself to it. The slow, measured pace is integral to understanding it on a deep, visceral level, because it takes the viewer outside of ordinary time, allowing us to set aside the distracting speed & information overload of everyday life.So, we're in cosmic time here, an oceanic infinity where the everyday no longer applies, where swarms of byte-sized factoids are irrelevant. In a way, it's like meditation -- slowly shutting off the chatter of the monkey mind, so that we gradually become aware of something far more immense & vast.It's not a thrill ride of sensation & immediate gratification. It's intensity of experience, building gradually & inexorably to a crescendo, a breakthrough of perception. Rational, logical explanation isn't the point while watching ... although afterwards, you'll have plenty to think about & discuss with others!That discussion will cover a lot of ground, too -- the origins & ultimate fate of humanity, the nature of the universe, the essence of the sacred, the limits of technology, dehumanization, the meaning of existence -- and that's just the start. It offers questions, not answers, and challenges all who watch it to search for those answers themselves, within themselves.The depth psychologist Carl Jung once said that the hardest thing in the world for anyone to do is simply sit alone in an empty room with his or her thoughts. "2001" puts you in that room, just as it put Dave Bowman in the same room. A safe, familiar, but sterile room -- and he emerges from it reborn, ready to grow into his expanded universe. Like any great work of art, that's precisely what this film offers each viewer. As in Rilke's poem "Archaic Torso of Apollo," it tells the viewer, "You must change your life." Whether you choose do so is up to you.To those who find it boring or meaningless -- wait awhile, then give it another try. Sooner or later, life will have you asking, "What's it all about?" Slow down, reflect, and you may find that the film opens up to you at last.Most highly recommended!