Why is 2001: A Space Odyssey a Great Film?

Watch the video:

2001: A Space Odyssey, directed by Stanley Kubrick, is one of the greatest films ever made.

It’s probably also the greatest science fiction film ever made. The science mostly stands up even today, which I believe is what makes a true science fiction film, over, say, a space fantasy.

What is so great about 2001: A Space Odyssey?

I grade a film on four criteria. These are:

1. Technical artistry
2. Storytelling artistry
3. Entertainment and
4. Art

A film must ace all four to be great. If you want to know the details of what makes a film read this:

Technical artistry

Let’s start with production design, because it stands out in spades.

The displays and buttons are similar to modern design (close to 2005 if not 2001). Movies made after, in the 1970s and 1980s have more outdated displays and interfaces.

Kubrick used a spinning set, because that creates gravity in space, and he wanted to reproduce that. The shot is awe inspiring even today, especially on larger screens. Christopher Nolan tried a similar idea for Inception, about 40 years later.

The universal but simplistic design of HAL is terrifying. This red light has been copied several times since, but nothing comes close.

Then we have the monolith, appearing in certain places in the solar system; put there by an unseen force. It clearly tells us it’s not natural. Nature doesn’t make straight lines, so what seems like a dull black box speaks volumes because it’s in the right place at the right time.

The space ships still look great today, and hold up very well, because they were meticulously created models. There was no CGI in 2001. People gush a lot about the ships in Star Wars: A New Hope, but 2001: A Space Odyssey was made a decade earlier. You have everything – a death star-like spaceship, pods, space walks, a hotel in space, a destroyer, opening the hatch to the vacuum of space, you name it.

Man hadn’t landed on the moon when this movie was being made. Star Trek was already playing, but it never came close to this level of detail. The attention to science is stunning.

Kubrick was heavily inspired by a short documentary called Universe (1960). His intention was to make everything look real. He hired a few of the people who worked on it for 2001. The most famous being Douglas Rain, the narrator in Universe, who is also the voice of HAL.

You can watch it here:

The music in 2001 is on another level. There’s a whole story about the music, but let’s focus on what made it in the film. That title shot and "Also sprach Zarathustra" by Richard Strauss just crushes it. It’s in my 20 most iconic music motifs in cinema. This and my analysis of the dawn of the "Apes scene" is available in Wolfcrow Lifetime Access (members only):

Movies had been made prior to 2001: A Space Odyssey with space themes, but after 2001 arrived it became obvious to many that space is an ideal template for grand stories. It inspired a legion of filmmakers, and still does to this day.

The camera work is the definition of pure cinema. The restraint shown is exceptional. The fluid camera work is what makes the shots awe inspiring. Space is grand as it is, and 2001 is the first film that showed what traveling and living in space is really like, and it terrifies you.

The camera used was a Mitchell BFC 65mm, with 65mm Super Panavision Lenses. I would really love to see an 8K scan of this film in a large theater. That would be something. It exists all right.

The visual effects in 2001 are revolutionary. They were all made in camera or in the lab. Like the light streaks and other effects in the Star Gate sequence that have been copied so many times.

The makeup work is great too. It’s pretty obvious the apes in the beginning are humans dressed up, but I’ve seen the film with enough people who thought they were real apes. Maybe these people don’t watch enough NatGeo, or I’ve watched too much. There is also a scene at the end where a character grows old in, let’s just call it a virtual world. A place in which time and space can be manipulated, sort of like the Tesseract in Interstellar.

The lighting is motivated by the environments the characters are in. In this scene the floor is lit, so you get an eerie under-lit feel that instantly tells you something isn’t right about the room. In a spaceship like Discovery One, there are so many sets and each one is uniquely recognizable. They have different colors and geometric shapes – things you don’t notice at first glance but you’ll never forget again now that I mention it.

My favorite set has to be from this scene, where HAL sings a song. I don’t want to spoil the film for you, but it’s one of the most poignant scenes in cinema history. Which brings us to storytelling.

Storytelling artistry

This scene is drawn out. The greatest tragedies of cinema are when no one character is better than the rest. The inevitability brings the gravitas. If you’re curious, the genesis of this scene is from Frankenstein, the original novel, not the film.

Stanley Kubrick collaborated with Arthur C. Clarke for the story and script. The major plot is from The Sentinel, a short story by Clarke. Kubrick told Clarke he wanted to make a film about "Man’s relationship to the universe". His objective right from the beginning was to make a work of art, with pure cinema as the medium. He didn’t want to explain anything, and wanted to let a lot of the events be open to interpretation.

This is why he wasn’t afraid to draw out the scenes. Drawing it out was the best decision Kubrick could have made. This put off a lot of people, and still does. The film was intended to be seen on a large screen. You can’t compare it to the latest Star Wars or Star Trek.

E.g., if you want to know what swimming is really like The Little Mermaid is probably not the right film. If you care about science, then 2001 prepares you for what space is really like. If science isn’t your thing, this film isn’t for you. Not everyone watches films for the same reasons.

2001: A Space Odyssey also has, in my opinion, the greatest cut in cinematic history. It is the cut that ends the dawn of the apes sequence. I’m not showing it here because you need to see it firsthand. It tells you everything you need to know in an instant.

Now let’s take the acting. Kubrick could have had his pick of actors, and the casting had to be spot on.

William Sylvester as Dr. Heywood Floyd is someone with remnant human tendencies and ties to earth. We know this because he’s generally social to people and talks to his daughter like his ancestors did on earth. Bowman, though, is an evolved version.

Keir Dullea as Dr. David Bowman really sells a level-headed space veteran who’s conquered boredom.

You can trace the linear progression from apes to Sylvester to Bowman. Man loses his animalistic and emotional instincts and is on the path to evolution, the next step. This pays off in the ending. On the other hand, when man loses his humanity, HAL, the super computer, becomes more human than him.

2001 takes a big risk with a story structure of three acts with totally different characters. It’s necessary, though often criticized. It resembles the journey through the ages like The Foundation series, by Isaac Asimov. Modern films like Star Wars force characters to live through multiple films in the series in some form for continuity. Different ways of storytelling. If you like coffee don’t judge tea.

Don’t forget to read Arthur C. Clarke’s written version, which differs in many respects.

Overall, 2001: A Space Odyssey is a story wrapped as an experience. It demands some education and affinity to science and space. Every film asks you to assume something. Marvel films assume you like superheroes, and that’s taken for granted. If you can’t get past that, the films will be intolerable. You have to buy into the premise – whether it’s a romcom or a slasher.

This is what Kubrick meant when he said about trimming the long shots. He said: "The people who like it like it no matter what its length, and the same holds true for the people who hate it".

Entertainment

2001: A Space Odyssey was a flop on its initial release but has since then recovered its budget and earned a profit over the years, as popularity in space exploration has grown.

Is it re-watchable? I can watch it again and again, which is how I score a film on entertainment. For me, it’s the quintessential thought-provoking film; probably because of my interest in science and science fiction. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea.

Art

Is 2001: A Space Odyssey art?

If it isn’t cinema as art, I don’t know what is.

It stands on its own and has aged well. The story is our future, if people like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are to be believed. The fact that Kubrick saw it early, rode the wave and nailed it perfectly is akin to Picasso’s Guernica or Van Gogh’s Starry Night. It remains the gold standard of science fiction film in space, even after half a century.

This is why 2001: A Space Odyssey is one of the greatest films ever made, and is third on my list of 100 films to see before you die: