“I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

2001: A Space Odyssey was a film that I put off for a long time, mainly because I was almost positive it wasn’t going to be my thing. After all, it’s known for being one of the most deliberately slow-paced movies ever made, and so I expected it to be on my “respect but don’t enjoy” list. I honestly don’t think that I’ve ever been as pleasantly surprised by a film in my entire life.

The slow pacing is honestly what makes this movie so special in my opinion. Each shot is really long but also clearly very well thought out, giving you plenty of time to breathe and take things in (at least until the very end). It’s a very confusing film, not necessarily on a plot or narrative level, but mainly when it comes down to deciphering what it all means. I still don’t really understand most of the thematic stuff, but I was enthralled for all two-and-a-half hours nonetheless because of the atmosphere this film was able to create, which I’ll talk about next.

I really do not like using this word as I find it to be very overused, but when it comes to 2001: A Space Odyssey, I think what makes it as incredible as it is are the “vibes” of it all. It starts off as a very simple yet kind of fun movie, definitely aided by the absolutely incredible music used. As I said before, it’s enthralling all the way through, but to be honest, there really isn’t anything about it that screams “one of the greatest movies ever made” at the very beginning. It sets everything up perfectly, though.

Even though most of the music isn’t original, it’s still used absolutely incredibly to the point that I think the score could easily be mistaken as original here. Of course, you have the classic main theme, which is mainly used at the very beginning and almost sets the tone for a completely different film. At first, it has this fun and adventurous feel to it, as I said before.

However, once you get to a specific time jump, that's when this film really takes off and becomes something else entirely. Gone is the loud and adventurous score, replaced with a very eerie and unsettling one, and, eventually, hardly any use of music at all. Instead, it more so focuses on natural sounds like breathing and computer noises to create its incredibly unique atmosphere that really shapes this movie into what it is. This is what allows the viewer to take everything in, at least emotionally, even if you don’t quite understand everything that is going on, just like I didn’t.

This is also when a lot of the narrative comes to fruition, especially with a specific computer named HAL 9000, which bears a shockingly similar resemblance to the artificial intelligence of today. HAL 9000 is the main computer that controls the ship on this specific mission to find out the origin of this mysterious alien piece, which leads the crew to Jupiter. This is also the section of the film where not a whole lot of music is used, which did a remarkably good job of very subtly foreshadowing that not everything might go as planned.

Even the human characters stand out here, too, though. They aren’t necessarily the deepest-written or the most complex, but they aren’t supposed to be. Rather, they serve as sort of the “human’s response,” so to speak, to the advanced artificial intelligence of HAL 9000, again, bearing a very similar resemblance to what many fear artificial intelligence could eventually become. The writing demands a lot out of them, mainly the main character named Dave, and I mean a lot, and Keir Dullea, the actor who plays him, does an incredible job to say the very least. His interactions and, eventually, reactions to what HAL 9000 does were so haunting that they honestly gave me goosebumps.

The last thing I have to talk about here is the absolutely unbelievable cinematography. I still don’t know everything there is to know about this aspect of filmmaking, but from what I do understand, like composition, rule of thirds, etc., yeah, 2001 checks it all and then some. It’s breathtaking even to this day (which I cannot emphasize enough), with very few shots that have aged a day. The vast majority of the shots are really long, including some that feature techniques that I have absolutely no idea how Stanley Kubrick achieved in the 1960s. There is a reason that it has not only inspired so many movies that came after it, but also played a big part in Kubrick being framed for filming the moon landing, as if it were fake.

To be honest, the only mixed thing I have to say about 2001 is more of a warning, or, rather, a thing to keep in mind before watching it. I have absolutely nothing even mildly negative to say about it. The thing I would say to keep in mind is something I alluded to earlier, being that it can be very confusing at times. As long as you know the basic premise of this movie, as I said, the plot itself should be easy to follow, at least until the very end. The themes, on the other hand, not so much. I had a tiny grasp on what this movie meant, but to be completely honest, I really wasn’t sure at all. Adding onto that, the way this film ends is definitely one of those that the vast majority of people, including me, will have to look up on the internet to fully understand.

2001: A Space Odyssey might not be a movie for everyone, and, honestly, I didn’t expect it to be that way for me at all. However, it holds its place in cinematic history for a very good reason, pioneering visual effects and introducing themes, even the ones I didn’t fully understand, that still frighteningly hold up to this day, and, unfortunately, will probably only continue to age better and better over time. If you are nervous or have put off this film for a long time, honestly, just watch it.