2001: A Space Odyssey

1968

Directed by Stanley Kubrick

Netflix says… Stanley Kubrick’s sci-fi classic probes the mysteries of space and human destiny. While investigating the appearance of mysterious monoliths throughout the universe, astronauts David and Frank battle their ship’s intelligent computer, HAL-9000.

This is one I’ve made myself watch before. I’m not sure why. I think, at one point, I decided that, if I was going to consider myself a movie lover, this was one of those movies that I needed to see at least once. And I remember not loving it. So I wasn’t looking forward to reaching it on this list. But, here we are. Maybe I’m not particularly a fan of Kubrick. I know I didn’t much care for A Clockwork Orange when I watched that one for this AFI series.

In the opening sequence, with the ape tribes screaming at each other, all I could think was, “Ape together strong.” Clearly, these guys hadn’t seen Planet of the Apes, which came out the same year. Maybe the “Ape together strong” idea didn’t come about until the reboot movies with Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

I get that it’s a classic. It’s got a beautiful soundtrack. But, overall, I find it to be a fairly dull film. Maybe I’m uncultured. But I prefer my space epics to feature lightsabers and scruffy-looking nerf herders.