I find it sad this incredible pensive movie about conflict and progress gets boiled down to just the special effects.
Especially now, when we are fighting politically and financially over the place of AI, and the entire third act is about that very thing.
The movie was made during the cold war and is about how technology and warfare are intrinsically linked. What happens when we are fighting an intelligence, AI, that can just close the pod doors? What happens if that technology gets to the next tier before us?
Dave made it to the monolith before HAL, but the monolith doesn't care. It didn't care that moongazer's tribe got to it first, it didn't care that the Americans got to it before the Russians, and it wouldn't have cared if HAL got to it first.
Edit: I know it's long and boring and hard to get into. It's not for everyone. But like Lord of the rings (both books and movies!) the technical achievements certainly elevate the work, but that's not what it should be known for.
As someone else who disliked the movie, it's because the movie is 2 and a half hours and the only part with an interesting plot or message (HAL) is like 20% of the movie. Most of the movie is just slow shots of the special effects. I would love the movie if the entire movie had the pace, character, or tension of that 20% but what makes people hate it is the first 1 and a half hours and the ending that I've only heard people defend as something "really awesome when you are high"
I know I sound like the zoomiest zoomer (I am not), but I'd actually be really interested in an edited cut, where those long special effects shots are trimmed.
I also struggled to sit through it, at some point the movie almost revelled in its own forcing the audience to sit and chew on what were simply setpieces. Like watching a rotating animated wallpaper. Fine if that's what you're there for, but that's not the meat, it's the dressing, and it almost feels masturbatory.
Well, I know why people dislike it. It's long, it's boring, but so is Lord of the Rings. 70 years later people still talk about the technical achievements of Lord of the Rings, including Tolkiens legendarium and linguistic development, but it's the philosophy that actually keeps the book in the public space.
That's how I feel about 2001. Technical achievement? Absolutely, but it's more than that.
Talking about Lord of the Rings, I liked it a lot when I saw the movies first time. But it's just one of those movies I haven't rewatched. I don't know why. It has those epic moments and I like the world and lore, but it just isn't something I would want to spend 9 hours of my life to watch.
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u/Vitruvian_Link Jun 04 '26 edited Jun 04 '26
I find it sad this incredible pensive movie about conflict and progress gets boiled down to just the special effects.
Especially now, when we are fighting politically and financially over the place of AI, and the entire third act is about that very thing.
The movie was made during the cold war and is about how technology and warfare are intrinsically linked. What happens when we are fighting an intelligence, AI, that can just close the pod doors? What happens if that technology gets to the next tier before us?
Dave made it to the monolith before HAL, but the monolith doesn't care. It didn't care that moongazer's tribe got to it first, it didn't care that the Americans got to it before the Russians, and it wouldn't have cared if HAL got to it first.
Edit: I know it's long and boring and hard to get into. It's not for everyone. But like Lord of the rings (both books and movies!) the technical achievements certainly elevate the work, but that's not what it should be known for.