2001: A Space Odyssey movie is a 1968 science fiction movie about evolution of human kind. This epic science fiction was written and directed by Stanley Kubrick. This movie is widely regarded as the greatest and most influential movie ever made. In spite of the fact that this movie was released in 1968, it has stunning visuals, mind-blowing storyline, and unique way of storytelling. Stanley Kubrick's epic 2001: A Space Odyssey has taken the traditional filmmaking into a different level. This movie is way ahead of its time. This movie even surpasses many popular science fiction movies like 'Gravity' and 'Interstellar' which were made 50 years later and had CGI computer graphics to enhance their cinematography!
2001 story can be explained in many different ways: Our evolution, our discovery of tools, How we turn that tools into weapons, How we have become so powerful that we have lost control of our tools, How in space we are like infants once more learning to eat, learning to walk, etc.
I loved the way the movie starts in the prehistoric times where apes used to live. Suddenly a black monolith appears before them. This monolith seems to start evolution among the apes. The apes learned how to make and use tools.
Sound also plays a very important role in this movie. This movie is 142 minutes long. Hardly around 40 minutes in this movie shows the conversation between different actors. The first 20 minutes of the movie explains the evolution process of the apes. The remaining minutes show various space explorations.
The existence of a computer Artificial Intelligence named HAL is awesome and it controls everything in the spacecraft and also talks to the crew and monitors their every move. The HAL 9000 series computer is very intelligent and fast. This movie shows how an A.I can overpower humans. HAL is so intelligent that he can read the lips of the two scientists when they were planning to disconnect him from the mission.
Coming to its technical aspects, the cinematography by Geoffery Unsworth features some of the most memorable frames ever put to film. The scene where an ape throws a bone into the air and suddenly the next scene shows the view of outer space is breath-taking. This cut depicts the evolution of humankind from prehistoric times into the modern world. The sound design is amazing. There are many scenes where the director used only some visuals and background music.
The last 20 minutes of the film is very confusing. I must say that to think about artificial intelligence, that too in the 1960s is way beyond imagination. There are few things which you might not understand when you watch it for the first time. You need to give it a second watch. This movie is a masterpiece. Thanks, Stanley Kubirk for making such an epic movie.
Youly just witnessed the greatest movie of all time.
If you want to understand the last few minutes. Follow the reddit discussions on it.