Still amazing

When a film, sixty years after it was made, still makes you wonder "How did they do that?" You know you're watching something of a technical masterstroke. But is 2001 also a fantastic showcase of content mixing with the presentation? Actually, it is. The story is a seemingly simplistic one, but the thing is we are never explained what is going on exactly. We are given hints and then we're allowed to use our own little brains to figure it out, and that's the best way to go with a story like this. And you know there is very little wrong with this film, because if you ask me there is about 10 minutes of footage here that should be removed. But of that time, about 2 minutes of stuff is spread out evenly throughout the film, and it doesn't work very well. First of all, the majority of the stuff I think should be cut is from the beginning, as I hate the fucking monkeys. I like the ape-scene, but when those things start screaming I hate it. I think Kubric easily could've trimmed several minutes out of all this without harming it as a whole, as to me atleast the point of the scene is made very clear in five minutes instead of the twenty it goes on for. The other bad stuff isn't necessarily bad, but mediocre or average. You see, with a film in which every shot is more beautiful than the one before it, when a bad or mediocre shot comes along it really breaks the mood and takes you out of the film. A good example of this are the extremely boring shots from within the cockpit early on in the movie. They're just plain dull to watch and always seem to take me out of the whole every time I see it. Shots like this are all over the movie, so it really does bother to me. I enjoy the movie regardless of this and it is a feast for the eye, the ear and the mind for most of the time. When it is, it's absolutely fantastic.

9/10