2001: A Space Odyssey1968
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
TOMATOMETER
AUDIENCE SCORE
Critic Consensus: One of the most influential of all sci-fi films -- and one of the most controversial -- Stanley Kubrick's 2001 is a delicate, poetic meditation on the ingenuity -- and folly -- of mankind.
2001: A Space Odyssey Photos
Movie Info
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Cast
as David Bowman
as Frank Poole
as Dr. Floyd
as Moonwatcher
as Smyslov
as Halvorsen
as Elena
as Michaels
as HAL
as Ape (killed by Moon-watcher)
as Ape
as Ape
as Ape
as Ape
as Ape
as Ape
as Ape (attacked by Leopard)
as Ape
as Ape
as Ape
as Ape
as Ape
as Ape
as Ape
as Ape
as Ape
as Ape
as Ape
as Stewardess
as Poole's Mother
as Astronaut
as Aries 1B-Lunar Shuttle Captain
as Astronaut
as Astronaut
as Ape
as Floyd's
as Aries 1B Stewardess
as Stewardess
as Poole's Father
as Mission Controller
News & Interviews for 2001: A Space Odyssey
Critic Reviews for 2001: A Space Odyssey
All Critics (88) | Top Critics (21) | Fresh (81) | Rotten (7) | DVD (11)
The film is a journey through outer space, but it is also a journey through cinematic space. It conjures the future by making you sit through its vision of the future, spending time just being in it.
Aa whimsical space operetta, then frantically inflates itself again for a surreal climax in which the imagery is just obscure enough to be annoying, just precise enough to be banal.
The movie is carried by images you'll never forget: the monolith, the space stations waltzing to Johann Strauss' "The Blue Danube" and the long "Star Gate" sequence, featuring a hurricane of lights and images that were once thought trippy.
A small sphere of intellectuals will feel that Kubrick has said something, simply because one expected him to say something. ... Most moviegoers will only wish that Mr. Kubrick would come back down to earth.
2001 will emerge from its initial long-run Cinerama engagements and subsequent extended runs as one of MGM's all-time box office hits ...
Though it fails as drama, Stanley Kubrick's venture succeeds as dazzling visual art.
Audience Reviews for 2001: A Space Odyssey
Kubrick's meditation on humanity and the universe is an unparalleled masterpiece and one of the most visceral and important films in cinema history.
Super Reviewer
Although many will find it more than difficult to interpret upon first viewing, it cannot be denied how much of a visionary tale it was for a 1960s film. 2001: A Space Odyssey revels in its audacious score, groundbreaking imagery and a notorious allegory that's ambiguous to the audience even to this present-day. 4/5
Super Reviewer
It's like, whoa, you know? I'm glad I got to see this on the big screen because it was just like...whoa...you know? During the first however many minutes of ominous tones, I kept thinking I was seeing images on the blank screen. They turned out to be just retinal shadows, but the suspense was so awesomely claustrophobic. So many spoofs and homages of Kubrick's ethereal blend of airless space, kaleidoscopic frenzy, and classical music did not diminish this movie-watching experience for me, and what an experience it was. The story, while ponderingly slow and ham-fisted, is an epic fantasia full of cacophony and silence, peace and fear, primitive pasts and equally primitive futures. The SFX were ridiculously advanced; images of Earth and space look just like recent representations in "Gravity" or "Interstellar." The "gravity boots" were an ingenious way to sidestep the weightlessness effect. Keir Dullea is remarkably good and understated as Dr. Dave Bowman, in all his heavy breathing and bottled-up rage. HAL, of course, is a freakish delight. I wasn't quite sold on the symbolism of the monolith, and I expected the piercing noise that it emitted to have some kind of debilitating, foreshadowing effect, but alas, it was only just a biggest, blackest, metaphor.
Super Reviewer
2001: A Space Odyssey Quotes
| HAL 9000: | I know I've made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal. I've still got the greatest enthusiasm and confidence in the mission. And I want to help you. |
| HAL 9000: | This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it. |
| HAL 9000: | I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do |
| HAL 9000: | I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do. |
| HAL 9000: | I've just picked up a fault in the AE35 unit. It's going to go 100% failure in 72 hours |
| HAL 9000: | I've just picked up a fault in the AE35 unit. It's going to go 100% failure in 72 hours. |