2001 - A Space Odyssey (Two-Disc Special Edition)
by Stanley Kubrick
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Actor: Alan Gifford, Daniel Richter, Gary Lockwood, Keir Dullea, William SylvesterDirector: Stanley Kubrick
Brand: KUBRICK,STANLEY
Cinematographer: John Alcott
Cinematographer: Geoffrey Unsworth
Composer: György Ligeti
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language); Russian (Original Language); French (Dubbed)
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Original recording remastered, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.20:1
Running Time: 141 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-10-23
Audience Rating: G (General Audience)
Model: 79191
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product features:
- 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.Running Time: 149 min. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY Rating: NR Age: 012569791916 UPC: 012569791916 Manufacturer No: 79191
DVD Reviews of 2001 - A Space Odyssey (Two-Disc Special Edition)
DVD Review: Splendor in the Sky
Summary: 5 Stars
As for decades many critics have maintained that Citizen Kane is the best movie of all time, likewise 2001, A Space Odyssey is considered the best sci-fi movie of all time, even though originally many critics weren't exactly brimming with enthusiasm, but that was a standard phenomenon after each Kubrick release. Well it is tempting to go against popular opinion and in the case of Citizen Kane I do, even though it's a great film, but far from the best movie ever (it's not even Welles' best), but as far as this movie is concerned I bow to the masterpiece that this work of art by Kubrick represents.
Let me begin by addressing the two most heard points of criticism concerning this movie:
1) The movie is too slow and as a result boring.
This of course is a subjective experience from any viewer and I think due to harboring wrong expectations of a significant portion of this group. A considerable part of sci-fi lovers comes at this genre from quite a different kettle of fish, as one can see at sci-fi favorite's lists at various movie forums. A Star Wars fan will probably think of quite different movies as opposed to a fan of Tarkovsky's "Solaris". Not that one excludes the other, which would be oversimplifying things.
Apart from that there is a significant number of intellectually somewhat challenged people, whose attention span will not cross the magic 4 second barrier: to them I indeed do not recommend this movie.
More so, the 'slowness' of this movie is one of its big plusses.
2) The movie is incomprehensible.
The complexity of this movie is about the only thing that's overrated in my view.
Under the pre-condition one watches the movie somewhat focused and takes the time absorbing and thinking about it, no Einsteinian brain power, or even that of a remote relative of this honorable man, is required to understand it.
Of course, again there is this group of viewers that have an outspoken aversion to prompt any brain cells that may exist into action. There are those that simply detest having to look for answers themselves and expect a movie to resolve any possible duality in plot interpretation.
The fact a movie may inspire multiple interpretations, should only be a source of interesting debate and not considered a failing of the movie as it surely is an aspect of great art that it is a living organism, that, through its perception lives on and evolves.
What makes Kubrick's movie stand out within movie history in general and the sci-fi genre in particular?
A few aspects:
- The story
The story entails a vision of grandeur and elegance concerning the physical and spiritual evolution of mankind and gives it a fascinating, and at that time original, spin through an alien civilization being at the basis of every crucial evolutionary step. It poses questions that touch the core of our spiritual and physical roots and the next leap we might make in this grand scheme. The film gives its own splendid and captivating answer to these questions, to which the validity of this answer is not so much important as the way the confrontation with it as a viewer resonates within us.
- Cinematography
2001 has images that, once seen, you will never ever forget and even now, 40! years after its release, remain fresh and visionary. The breath taking panoramas of pre-historic earth, the majesty of space and beautiful space station/ship interior designs are unforgettable.
- FX
The special effects in the movie were far ahead of their time, never before or since was there a movie that instantly made all predecessors within a movie genre look antiquated and visually into a B-category movie.
Think of the beauty of the lunar landscape images, even though nobody had ever even been there at the time, the far ahead of its time computer generated images.
-Editing
The editing is truly sublime in this movie: just think of the classic scene of the bone thrown into the air transitioning into a docking space shuttle; the way Bowman sees himself aging at the end.
Of course even more important is the tempo of the movie determined by the editing, that indeed is quite slow. It is however a great plus of the movie, as the viewer gets all the time to "travel along" and take it all in, giving the audience in such an unique way a chance to experience the overwhelming beauty of the universe, turning it into a spiritual experience.
- Soundtrack
Again unique and never equaled in my personal view and extremely moving:
Ligeti's "Requiem" at the appearance of the monolith, his "Lux Aeterna" during the Lunar flight as well as his "Athmosphères" during the final odyssey part "Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite".
They are quite contemporary works and admittedly I enjoy some of contemporary classical music a lot and consider Ligeti's Requiem to be the most impressive oratory of the 20th century, but more importantly, the effect with the appearance of the monolith is astounding (to whom it may be interesting, the piano music in Kubrick's swansong "Eyes Wide Shut" is also Ligeti's, although be it written 30 years later), as is "Lux Aeterna" creating this texture of mystery and impending revelation so magnificently.
The use of a Strauss waltz while the space shuttle is docking without any dialogue for minutes at a time is one of the highlights of the movie and a stroke of pure genius. Before I saw this movie I wasn't exactly what one would call a fan of the waltzes composed by any within the Strauss family or this piece in particular. After seeing this movie I considered it to be of a gracious beauty that I would never forget.
Khatchaturians tragic ballet music heard during the first images of the spaceship "Discovery" creates this great atmosphere of impending tragedy, which will befall most of its crew. Later Cameron quoted this music at the opening of his movie "Aliens", as a tribute I presume.
The music of course that everybody associates this movie with, Richard Strauss' "Also sprach Zarathustra" is majestic at both beginning and end of the movie.
Well, I could continue on about several aspects of this movie that now for 40 years signifies a watershed within the genre and has become that shining star dominating the sci-fi sky and rightly so.
It is a movie that can move a viewer on many levels, confronting us once again with who we are, where we come from and possible destiny as a species in a work of great audio-visual splendor, which, like all great art will undoubtedly stand the test of time.
Actor Keir Dullea, playing the iconic character of Dave Bowman in the movie, once articulated it beautifully:
"It resonates in people because it touches on the instant our wonder - not only our wonder about space, but our wonder about time, our wonder with our relationship to the Deity perhaps - because you get as many interpretations of what the film means as you do almost people who have seen it. That's true of almost any great work of art - if you see a Picasso, is it important to know what Picasso intended, or is it important to know what your relationship is, your emotional reaction is to it?"
Description of 2001 - A Space Odyssey (Two-Disc Special Edition)
No Description Available.Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: NR
Release Date: 23-OCT-2007
Media Type: DVD
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