If you can't see what was great about Kubrick you should probably stick to watching stupid movies about teenage retards driving cars sideways.

By far the most interesting evolutionary theory in film. Great Visuals. Labeled overrated, like Citizen Kane, by people that no nothing about film as art.

WOW!! Tremenda pelicula... muy avanzada a su época, visionaria al maximo.
Un clasico que nadie puede no ver en su vida. Aunque es algo lenta y larga da igual ante tamaña obra de arte que es esta pelicula de Kubrick.

I grew up loving Kubrick, turned on him during my early twenties, then came back around. I love this movie.

Actually, I slept. So.. not really can write down anything about it.
This movie is really cool although it's from 1968. Need to study more to find out what Kubrick wanted to say.

Absolutely mindblowing--one of THE most influential films of all time. The aesthetics and cinematography alone were so advanced for their time that one could hardly believe this was made in 1968. The pacing sometimes borders on laborious, but most vi... (read more) Absolutely mindblowing--one of THE most influential films of all time. The aesthetics and cinematography alone were so advanced for their time that one could hardly believe this was made in 1968. The pacing sometimes borders on laborious, but most viewers will be able to appreciate Kubrick's choice of presentation.

Mind blowing. Probably Kubrick's best film, in that it is the perfect culmination of the constant themes and attributes of his whole body of work. The detached, composed, intellectual approach to the subject material could really hinder the film but ... (read more) Mind blowing. Probably Kubrick's best film, in that it is the perfect culmination of the constant themes and attributes of his whole body of work. The detached, composed, intellectual approach to the subject material could really hinder the film but (unlike A Clockwork Orange for instance) we are given human characters at the heart of the piece and it is their subsequent plight that give the film a truely heartbreaking quality. Also in this light, achievements such as the incredible visuals work as well as they do because we truely care.

I refuse to believe that so many people LOVE this people as they say they do. Half these people on flixster are pseudo-movie snobs, refusing to swim against the stream for fear of being called out on their poser ways. I, for one, did not much like th... (read more) I refuse to believe that so many people LOVE this people as they say they do. Half these people on flixster are pseudo-movie snobs, refusing to swim against the stream for fear of being called out on their poser ways. I, for one, did not much like this movie. Prime reason being, it is BORING. Kubrick is a master of the visuals, and I can't deny his rendition of 2001 is to say the least intriguing, but this film is Pretentious with a capital P.

There is no deeper meaning in it than what is being given to you. Maybe it made sense in Kubrick's mind when he made it, but he succeeded in making a film so hyped up with meta-symbolistic-crap, it is essentially no different from the low-budget scifi convention stuff weirdos and their cults attempted to get produced every year (I should know; I've been to a midnight screening of one of those. Can you say JOKE?), without the low-budget of course.

I like dialogue. I am not ashamed to admit it. And a movie that gives me apes jamming each other with bones for the first 25 minutes is not my cup of tea. Not to mention the wheel turning round and round and round in outer space against some classical music waltz. You have no idea how many times I had to pinch myself to stay awake.

Things I liked: the psychedelic star child trip (but still too long), HAL's shutdown was seriously heartbreaking, and Dave and Frank were kind of hot.

I'm not saying that everybody who likes this film is an automatic poser - I guess I can see the appeal if you can stand through the boredom (I myself noticed the glimmers of brilliance beneath the monolith of endless, excruciating boredom), but with my attention span, this movie is not for me. And probably isn't for you either.

Such a classic film. Just a few months ago I saw this classic playing at the local theaters with my dad, and was instantly captivated by this visionary masterpiece by Kubrick. For me, it was seeing a timeless film and I realized why it's such a param... (read more) Such a classic film. Just a few months ago I saw this classic playing at the local theaters with my dad, and was instantly captivated by this visionary masterpiece by Kubrick. For me, it was seeing a timeless film and I realized why it's such a paramount film in its field. Even so, it was great to experience a movie like this with my father, who never saw it in 40 years. Definitely a pleasure to witness such a highly regarded movie, especially with a man who rediscovered his love for this epic odyssey.

The problem with watching a classic film, especially one as highly regarded as this, is that they loom so large over cinema that judging the film itself becomes almost impossible. However, with 2001, the sheer originality, scope, cinematic excellence... (read more) The problem with watching a classic film, especially one as highly regarded as this, is that they loom so large over cinema that judging the film itself becomes almost impossible. However, with 2001, the sheer originality, scope, cinematic excellence ensure that its influence in no way mitigates its absolute, unequivocal genius.
It is amazing to think that a film like this could be made at all: it was, undoubtedly a high budget film, yet is so counter to the mainstream as to be largely unpalatable; it is the ultimate art film.
The most distancing aspect of the film is its narrative, which is largely disjointed, offering vignettes on the theme humanity, technology, evolution (i think). The last section of the film, with its psychedelic light show and bizarre finale offer a perfect synecdoche of the script.
It is in a way counter productive to even consider the themes and ideas of the film in too much detail on a first viewing. What I was most impressed by and what was obviously of primary importance for Kubrick are the mind-blowingly advanced and brilliant visuals. From the actual construction of shots (the obvious one being the monolith, moon, sun shot, or the Serengeti landscapes), to the ahead-of-its-time special effects of the space station, the planets, the apes, this film surely represents one of the, if not the, greatest visual achievement in film.
Perhaps the key to the film's success however is the time that Kubrick allows. Consider the opening scenes of the 'Dawn of Man', where we are shown in great detail the lives of our pre-historic cousins, or the meticulous detail surrounding the space crafts as the dock with others or land on the moon. The reason that he allows such time to these seemingly inconsequential scenes (in terms of the narrative) is that he allows/forces us to be completely immersed in the world he has created: we are under no illusion of the verisimilitude of this 'futuristic' world.
Note: The fact that this film was made in 1968 adds to the ridiculous brilliance of it.