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2001: a space odyssey DVD Review by Yanman |
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"I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that." If you haven't seen 2001 a space odyssey you may feel that you are the only one, but up until reviewing this DVD I had not embarked on the journey myself. To be honest I don't think I was well prepared for the undertaking. I have always heard that 2001 was "a milestone" or "one of the greatest sci-fi films of all times," but you won't see any quotes like that here. For me it is more like "what the heck were they thinking." For fans of the movie though I will have to say that this DVD is a very good way to see this 30 + year old movie. Now if you could just explain it to me . . . The movie opens at the dawn of humankind, men as apes, dancing around a monolith, then becoming violent. The first 20-minutes of the movie have no dialogue, only music. After the musical interlude is complete, we are greeted to our first glimpse of space travel. First earth to the moon, and then off to the mystery on Clavius. Is there a virus on this planet? No just an unexplainable monolith made out of black rock, obviously buried on purpose. But by who? Moreover, why? Well the only thing we know for sure is that it is broadcasting a signal to Jupiter. This is where the fun begins, five people and one computer set out on the journey to Jupiter (the first manned mission attempt to this planet), three of the five are "in a state of hibernation." The computer a HAL 9000 is in charge of most of the mission with the humans taking care of any adjustments that need to be made to the ship. Although both Kubrick (director) and Clarke (author) deny that that the name HAL has anything to do with IBM, (Each letter of HAL alphabetically precedes the letters of IBM) many fans still believe this is the case. Regardless of where the computers name comes from, when this machine "goes bad" it becomes a manifestation of many humans' fears of machines running their lives. The journey just keeps getting weirder from this point forward, so I won't even attempt to explain. The video on this one is OK, considering the age of the film, most of the flaws appear to be inherent to the master, a problem common to video of this vintage. The audio was re-master in Dolby Digital 5.1. Although re-mastering does not provide the complete effect, that 5.1 sound can produce; it is much better than the alternative. There are a limited number of extras here, A very old interview with Co-screenwriter Arthur C. Clarke and an 8-page booklet of notes and trivia (I'll say it again, "include this on the disc as well please.") If I could add one, extra to this one it would have been a director's commentary, so someone could tell me what this was all about! If you are a fan of this one or of Stanley Kubrick's work then by all means go out and get this DVD. However, if you're looking for someone to explain the movie to you "I'm sorry Dave I'm afraid I can't do that".
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2001: a space odyssey An unexplainable monolith made out of black rock, obviously buried on purpose. But by who? Moreover, why?
Staring: Kier Dullea Directed By: Stanley Kubrick Running time: 139 Bonus Materials
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