2001: A Space Odyssey Family Review

After uncovering a mysterious artifact buried beneath the Lunar surface, a spacecraft is sent to Jupiter to find its origins - a spacecraft manned by two men and the supercomputer H.A.L. 9000."2001" is a story of evolution. Sometime in the distant past, someone or something nudged evolution by placing a monolith on Earth (presumably elsewhere throughout the universe as well). Evolution then enabled humankind to reach the moon's surface, where yet another monolith is found, one that signals the monolith placers that humankind has evolved that far. Now mankind, assisted by artificial intelligence (such as HAL), must dare to encounter the monolith placers. If successful we will achieve the next step in evolution, whatever that may be.—Larry CousinsA black monolith has an affect on humans, the monolith's effects focusing on two specific time periods. The first period is four million years ago, at the dawn of man. After the appearance of the monolith, the ape men begin to display behavior unknown before then. The second period is the near future, in the year 2001. There are five astronauts aboard Discovery One, which is on a mission to Jupiter. At the beginning of the mission, the reason for it is unknown to the five astronauts. Three of the astronauts are in hibernation at the start of the mission to preserve the manpower over its entire course, leaving mission commander Dr. Dave Bowman and Dr. Frank Poole as the two manning the spacecraft. There is another what is often considered "sixth" astronaut on board, HAL 9000 - referred to simply as Hal - the artificial intelligent computer which controls all of the craft's functions, including the systems keeping the three hibernating astronauts alive. Hal is made all the more astronaut-like as it is given an artificial voice, Hal and the astronauts often having conversations. A 9000 series computer is considered infallible, any error one has ever made being human caused. Ultimately, Bowman and Poole believe that Hal is malfunctioning, they are unaware that Hal's behavior is due to knowledge of classified information it has about events at Clavius, a lunar outpost, eighteen months earlier. However, the issue between the astronauts and Hal becomes a fight for survival. The mission in its entirety has profound consequences for the human race.—HuggoStanley Kubrick's masterpiece traces an expedition to the moon, Jupiter and beyond, and imagines the future evolution of humanity. A group of ape-like creatures - primitive humans - discover the use of bones as weapons in a quarrel over a waterhole. Jump forward 1000s of years, and an American expedition finds a mysterious black monolith - an obvious alien artefact - on the Moon. Another expedition is sent to Jupiter, where a second monolith has been discovered. But during the journey the ship's computer, HAL 9000, develops paranoia.This movie is concerned with intelligence as the division between animal and human, then asks a question: what is the next division? Technology is treated as irrelevant to the quest--literally serving as mere vehicles for the human crew and as a shell for the immature HAL entity. Story told as a montage of impressions, music, and impressive and careful attention to subliminal detail. A very influential film and still a class act, even after 25 years.—Robin Kenny <[email protected]>2 moreAll