2001 - A Space Odyssey [HD DVD]
by Stanley Kubrick
![2001 - A Space Odyssey [HD DVD]](/images/2001-A-Space-Odyssey-HD-DVD-B000I0RR62-L.jpg)
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DVD details
Actor: Daniel Richter, Gary Lockwood, Keir Dullea, Leonard Rossiter, William SylvesterDirector: Stanley Kubrick
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Original Language); Russian (Original Language); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Dubbed)
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Original recording remastered, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.40:1
Running Time: 148 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-10-23
Audience Rating: G (General Audience)
Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Reviews of 2001 - A Space Odyssey [HD DVD]
DVD Review: This is the best science fiction movie ever made, moreover it is close to science fact.
Summary: 5 Stars
The movie 2001 a Space Odyssey which came out in 1968 by Stanley Kubrick based on the novel by the same name by Arthur C. Clarke is in my opinion still the best science fiction movie ever made even today in 2008 after 40 years of its production. Because unlike many other science fiction movies it is realistic; it does not make the scientific mistakes made by many other science fictions such as sound of explosions being heard in space. Obviously sound needs a medium to travel so in space explosions can not generate sound. This movie has taken this scientific fact into account.
The story stretches human imagination and begins from the dawn of humans on Earth in the African Savanna 4 million years ago and jumps to the year 1999 and continues to 2001.It raises many philosophical questions about human life's meaning in the universe, the dawn of humans, artificial intelligence, human vs. artificial intelligence, extraterrestrial intelligence, zero gravity, time, space, acceleration, dimensions etc. In fact, the viewer who is familiar with theories of physics such as Newtonian physics, Einstein's theory of General Relativity, Quantum Physics, String Theory etc. gets into even deeper thinking and pleasure while viewing the entrance into and journey in the monolith orbiting Io ( which is a satellite of Jupiter ) of the astronaut David Bowman who said with awe : " My god, it's full of stars ! " and was transported to some other strange world where the physics laws as we know them did not apply. If you read " The Fabric of the Cosmos " by the physicist Brian Green and " A Brief History of Time " by the famous contemporary physicist Stephen Hawking you will see them mention that there is no discovery in physics so far that necessitates the flow of time in only one direction i.e. from the present towards the future as we take for granted.There is nothing in the laws of physics discovered so far to prove that time can not also flow backwards i.e.from the future towards the past. We can see this reversal in the direction of flow of time back and forth being demonstrated in the last scenes of the movie 2001 A Space Odyssey; in a strange room in a mysterious world that he has been transported to when he entered with his space pod the monolith orbiting Io, David Bowman jumped from being a young man to become an older man then an older man still. He briefly existed simultaneously at both ages and saw the older David Bowman. At the very end he went back to being a baby inside a womb. These are examples of the break in the direction of flow of time towards the future. This alternation in the direction of the flow of time is not just science fiction. As I mentioned above its possibility of occuring is discussed in some books written by some physicists. Unsophisticated viewers with little or no knowledge of physics and astronomy will also enjoy the movie provided that they are interested in space and / or the meaning of existence of humankind.
Although today in 2008 we have already passed the year 2001 i.e. the year when the story of the movie is occurring, the issues put forward in the movie are still very relevant. Obviously, humankind has not yet reached the level of space technology predicted for the year 2001 in the novel and in the movie. But unless humankind is terminated in the near future by a nuclear war, severe climate changes due to global warming and pollution, impact to Earth by an asteroid or a comet, polar shift in the Earth's magnetic field, avian ( bird ) flu or another lethal virus epidemic, the arrival to Earth of the Anti Christ 666 or by some other natural disaster, humankind will eventually reach the level of technology shown in the movie, perhaps within the next 100 years.
The computers and electronic gadgets, the visual and mobile phones, wireless internet communication technology and other equipment that we see in the movie on board the space station orbiting Earth and aboard spaceship Discovery en route to Jupiter already exist in the real world today to the extent of technological level of development and sophistication seen in the movie except for HAL - 9000 computer which can think and experience emotions. But the movie demonstrates that things can go wrong with even the most advanced computers that are able to think, feel, talk to humans and understand their speec, despite a past record of no errors: in spite of its technological sophistication level the HAL - 9000 computer malfunctioned and killed several astronauts on board U.S.S. Discovery and was therefore disconnected by the surviving astronaut David Bowman.
Human hybernation seen in the movie has not yet become a reality either but in general developments in electronics, computers and communication technology of today have been predicted with remarkable accuracy when the film came out 40 years ago in 1968. Of course we have not yet colonised the moon, and the real space stations orbiting Earth, and manned spacecraft today are yet nowhere near as technologically developed and awesome as the ones seen in the movie, but I think it is only a matter of 50 to 100 more years before we get there.
The sight and sound effects all throughout the movie are very good and enjoyable to watch. The end of the movie leaves a lot of room for the creative imagination of the viewing audience to interpret what is happening. The music including the valses by Johan Strauss is very appropriate for this kind of movie. This film not only entertains but leaves the interested viewer thinking about the fundamental questions regarding mankind `s place and meaning in the universe. It is also a spectacular sound and light show. I think 2001 a Space Odyssey has become a classic science fiction movie which is very close to science fact, therefore for many more years it is unlikely to be surpassed in excellence by any other science fiction movie.
I also recommend that the viewer watch the continuation of this Odyssey named : " 2010 : The year we make contact " also based on the novel by Atrhur C. Clarke by the same name and also a very good science fiction movie. 2010 continues the Odyssey where 2001 left off. In fact the two movies can be seen as a single movie if watched in the proper sequence i.e. watch 2001 first and then watch 2010 a few days later. 2010 came out about 15 years after the movie 2001 was made.
DVD Review: The best copy of 2001 Space Odyssey in Blu-ray....
Summary: 4 Stars
Keep in mind how old this movie is and then sit back and be blown away of how good it looks on the new Blu-Ray format! If you've seen it before then this will give you another great reason to watch it again like never before. If you haven't seen it before it may be a little slow because back when the film was made they did not use a lot of ambient music and such to fill that uncomfortable scilence you sometimes get on the older movies. There seem to be more of those then I can remember on this film but it's still one of the greatest and inspired a lot of great now classics and newer films as well. If you have a good 1080p set and Blu-Ray player then sit back and drool....DVD Review: Thankyou, Mr. Kubrick
Summary: 5 Stars
Still a teenager when I first viewed "2001" at a tiny off-campus one screen theater....I recently bought the Bluray disc version....and viewed it on my 1080p Panasonic plasma screen....fantasically vivid in color and detail...simply amazing. It was as if I'd never seen the movie before. The extras are fascinating...watching with the commentary on gives you an insight into the making of the movie...but more importantly, gives you an appreciation...that Kubrick made this movie. Thankyou, Mr. Kubrick. DVD Review: Mercury Rising
Summary: 5 Stars
People jeer at media-created celebrities of today like Paris Hilton, but things were worse in the 1950s and 1960s when we were always hearing about the ASTRONAUTS. Stuffed down our throats, nobodies like Scott Carpenter and Gordon Cooper became household names, even though (and maybe because of the fact that) what we knew about them was tightly controlled and protected by layers of government secrecy and PR. Even their wives were sort of famous, though they never really took as celebrities, none of them, no matter how many insipid articles in McCalls or Good Housekeeping on "Annie Glenn's Favorite Mincemeat Surprise" or "Cooking with Tang." There was Jackie Kennedy, then there were the astronauts, a group of highly trained men we all fell for, and I think Kubrick must have too, for he bases his astronaut heroes on the media representations of the original "Mercury Seven" US astronauts, wed to the plot of Arthur C. Clarke's story "The Sentinel," so that there would be a twist and the astronauts would seem soulful compared to the flat significations of HAL their pet computer.
I assume that's why Kubrick selected some fairly colorless US actors to play their parts, although who knows, at the time Keir Dullea was regarded as a deep well of tangled and tragic emotions after starring in DAVID AND LISA and BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING, but Gary Lockwood had nothing on his resume that would indicate any depth whatsoever, beyond his marriage to Stefanie Powers. Also in the cast, as Lockwood's mother, the swan song of wonderful Ann Gillis, once little Becky Thatcher in Selznick's version of TOM SAWYER, and also the voice of Faline, Bambi's love interest. She hadn't made a film in decades when Kubrick found her and cast her in this small but crucial role. She was the original LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE (1938) and her eternal sunny optimism is used ironically in the film. (Kubrick wanted the original Depression optimist, Shirley Temple, but her agents said no way was Temple going to re-locate for the required London filming.)
That said, the acting in 2001 is terribly underrated, and the movie should have been nominated for Oscars in several acting categories. MGM built on the tech savvy of FORBIDDEN PLANET, with its similar mix of electronic music, beefcake spacemen, and uppity robot voices, and came out a winner all around. Kubrick had worked with MGM before (on LOLITA), though Dr. STRANGELOVE was for Columbia. After 2001, Kubrick made a longterm pact with Warner Brothers which lasted until his death, but even though some love the photography of BARRY LYNDON I don't think he was ever able to match the tech credits of 2001 ever again. (In fact some of his later pictures look very studio-bound and TVlike.)
DVD Review: My mistake I read the book first!
Summary: 3 Stars
I think where I went wrong was reading the book first. Considering the time it was made it was impressive in some of the style and effects but if I were to judge the film as a stand alone today it is just not that amazing. I am sure had I seen this in 1968 my mind would have been blown but in 2008 much less so. The first half feels twice as long as it actually is with very indulgent shots of stationary models moving across other models. Large portions of the story are just plain missing in favor of extended shots of switches and lights. When this movie came out I am sure it was exciting to see but it does not age well. In a lot of ways it suffers from the same problems many films from the 60s and 70s did; slow pacing, jarring soundtrack, guitar solo-esque visuals. The middle segment with HAL & Dave is probably the only part of the movie that is somewhat in the spirit of the book (which is awesome unlike this movie). I felt many aspects of the book were left out when it would have been beneficial to the story and instead were replaced by very slow atmospheric scenes. I love atmosphere myself but because I had the book in mind I was just wanting more meat to the film and that was lacking. I'm not entirely sure why the ending was changed, it's probably a great ending if you are into recreational drugs but I feel the book was a more satisfying ending because it more artfully tied the end to the beginning. The ending was really a grand payoff in the book and by going with Dave on his journey you were completely connecting with him so that his journey was your journey. I understand that a movie cannot convey an internal monologue in the way a book can but scrapping it in favor of visuals seems like a bad choice for the character and the story.
The bonus features were nice, I think every movie should come with at least one commentary track. If I were a fan of the film I am not sure I would be satisfied with the bonus features however.
I can see that I am in the minority in thinking this but I just didn't connect with the movie in the way I did with the book. To put it this way, it took me about 5 hours to read the book which felt in no way as long as this movie did. I guess that lumps me in with the adolescent proles who can't appreciate great art but to be honest this movie was terribly boring and just in no way as great as the book.
I highly recommend the book.
Description of 2001 - A Space Odyssey [HD DVD]
A space mission that could reveal man?s destiny is jeopardized by a malfunctioning shipboard computer. A dazzling journey that tops them all ? and showed the way for other effects-packed films that followed.When Stanley Kubrick recruited Arthur C. Clarke to collaborate on "the proverbial intelligent science fiction film," it's a safe bet neither the maverick auteur nor the great science fiction writer knew they would virtually redefine the parameters of the cinema experience. A daring experiment in unconventional narrative inspired by Clarke's short story "The Sentinel," 2001 is a visual tone poem (barely 40 minutes of dialogue in a 139-minute film) that charts a phenomenal history of human evolution. From the dawn-of-man discovery of crude but deadly tools in the film's opening sequence to the journey of the spaceship Discovery and metaphysical birth of the "star child" at film's end, Kubrick's vision is meticulous and precise. In keeping with the director's underlying theme of dehumanization by technology, the notorious, seemingly omniscient computer HAL 9000 has more warmth and personality than the human astronauts it supposedly is serving. (The director also leaves the meaning of the black, rectangular alien monoliths open for discussion.) This theme, in part, is what makes 2001 a film like no other, though dated now that its postmillennial space exploration has proven optimistic compared to reality. Still, the film is timelessly provocative in its pioneering exploration of inner- and outer-space consciousness. With spectacular, painstakingly authentic special effects that have stood the test of time, Kubrick's film is nothing less than a cinematic milestone--puzzling, provocative, and perfect. --Jeff Shannon
When Stanley Kubrick recruited Arthur C. Clarke to collaborate on "the proverbial intelligent science fiction film," it's a safe bet neither the maverick auteur nor the great science fiction writer knew they would virtually redefine the parameters of the cinema experience. A daring experiment in unconventional narrative inspired by Clarke's short story "The Sentinel," 2001 is a visual tone poem (barely 40 minutes of dialogue in a 139-minute film) that charts a phenomenal history of human evolution. From the dawn-of-man discovery of crude but deadly tools in the film's opening sequence to the journey of the spaceship Discovery and metaphysical birth of the "star child" at film's end, Kubrick's vision is meticulous and precise. In keeping with the director's underlying theme of dehumanization by technology, the notorious, seemingly omniscient computer HAL 9000 has more warmth and personality than the human astronauts it supposedly is serving. (The director also leaves the meaning of the black, rectangular alien monoliths open for discussion.) This theme, in part, is what makes 2001 a film like no other, though dated now that its postmillennial space exploration has proven optimistic compared to reality. Still, the film is timelessly provocative in its pioneering exploration of inner- and outer-space consciousness. With spectacular, painstakingly authentic special effects that have stood the test of time, Kubrick's film is nothing less than a cinematic milestone--puzzling, provocative, and perfect. --Jeff Shannon
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