Release Year: 1968

Genre: Mystery, Sci-Fi

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Writer: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke

Stars: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester

2001: A Space Odyssey is a film by a legendary director attempting a one-of-a-kind epic visual narrative, utilizing brand-new special effects. Obviously we're dealing with an instant classic here, right? Well, if by "instant" you mean "slow burning" and by "classic" you mean "mixed opinions," then sure.

On its release in 1968, critics and film buffs weren't quite sure what to make of Stanley Kubrick's trippy space epic. Some of the words used to describe it back then included "dull," "tedious," and "just plain boring." Movie star Rock Hudson famously stomped out of a preview saying, "Can someone tell me what the hell this is all about?" (Source) Some reviewers thought the film was a 160-minute self-indulgent display of navel-gazing by a director with delusions of grandeur.

Oof.

2001: A Space Odyssey tells the story of humanity's discovery of a mysterious black monolith on the moon. By emitting a radio wave aimed at Jupiter, the monolith suggests the existence of intelligent life beyond Earth. The United States quickly mounts a space expedition to Jupiter, but the trip hits a snag when the ship's powerful A.I., the HAL 9000 computer, has itself a bit of an existential crisis en route.

Not that this summary does the film justice, since Kubrick's goal was to tell his story through the film's visuals, making wordy plot rundowns kind of pointless. To manage this visual feat, Kubrick had to develop entirely new special effect techniques to portray space travel as realistically as possible. Even by today's standards, the effects have you asking out loud, "How'd they do that?" It's even more impressive because the answer isn't instantly, "With a computer, how else?"

While special effects didn't save the film from a poor opening, 2001's trajectory to success was summed up by film critic Vincent Canby when he noted, "The film opened to almost unanimous pans from the daily press and then went on to become a cult film, a head film, a film to recant by, and a smashing commercial success" (Source). Many college-age viewers saw the movie dozens of times, conducting their own scientific experiments by seeing it in varied, um, states of consciousness. (This was 1968, after all, and it was a visually and conceptually mind-bending film.)

The film's popularity eventually caught up with its cinematic brilliance, inspiring a whole new generation of movie makers to push the boundaries of visual effects, including some guy named George Lucas, and scores of others. Legendary director Ridley Scott (Blade Runner, Alien), who knows a little something about sci-fi films, said that after 2001, science fiction as a film genre was dead, killed by the perfection of 2001. Kubrick did it all; nothing more could be said; that's all, folks; everyone can just grab their hats and go home. (Source)

Fortunately for the genre, they all got over that phase.

2001 also inspired real astronauts and scientists. In 2001, NASA launched a robotic spacecraft to orbit around the planet Mars. The mission was named "2001 Mars Odyssey" in honor of the film. NASA even uses music from the film to wake its astronauts in space. They're kinda smitten with it.

Kubrick had no desire to return to the film's world, even going so far as destroying the set and props to prevent them from being used elsewhere. But co-author Arthur C. Clarke would write three sequels: 2010, 2016, and 3001. 2010 would later be made into a film directed by Peter Hyams in 1984, and Keir Dullea and Douglas Rain would return to play Dave Bowman and the HAL 9000, respectively.

The year 2001 has come and gone. The question is: Does a film about the future still matter now that its future is past? Let's find out.

Plain and simple, movies wouldn't be what they are today if not for Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. And unless you're 90 years old and remember the "good old days" of hubcap flying saucers and rubber-costumed monsters, this is a good thing.

Co-author Arthur C. Clarke received a letter from Kubrick expressing his desire to make the "proverbial 'really good' science-fiction movie," implying there hadn't been any good ones before then. (Source) While that implication isn't entirely true—looking your way, Metropolis—the truth is that speculative fiction films were mostly relegated to B-flicks before 2001. For every King Kong or The Incredible Shrinking Man, there were ten other films sporting unitard-clad aliens or giant monsters smashing unconvincing cardboard boxes made to look like cityscapes—a pedigree that makes it difficult for those films to gain traction among the more respectable, highbrow genres.

For 2001, Kubrick revolutionized the art of special effects and visual storytelling. His attention to detail was such that decades later this vision of the future remains mind-bogglingly authentic. To give these stunning practical effects purpose, Kubrick and Clarke devised an intelligent script that allowed audiences to form their own thoughts on the nature of life, human existence, and the future of technology.

Among the new generation of filmmakers inspired by 2001 would be Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, who would further revolutionize special effects and the summer blockbuster with their Jurassic Park and Star Wars franchises; and Ridley Scott, who directed a few of his own futuristic sci-fi classics like Blade Runner and Aliens. Kubrick also inspired less well-known but no less important behind-the-scenes artists such as Caleb Deschanel, Dennis Muren, and Phil Tippett.

Spielberg held the film in such high esteem that he said: "[Kubrick] would tell me the last couple of years of his life when we were talking about the form; he kept saying, 'I want to change the form. I want to make a movie that changes the form.' And I said, 'Didn't you do it with 2001?'" (Source) And that's coming from an absolute master of the art.

So if you're a fan of the Marvel movies, the Star Wars series, or FX summer blockbusters in general, you owe it to yourself to study 2001. If you like science fiction films like Gravity or Interstellar, you owe it to yourself to study their granddaddy, 2001. Come to think of it: if you like movies, period, you really owe it to yourself to study 2001.