5. 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY

If Star Wars marks the infantile first steps of space-based science fiction, 2001 is the adult maturation of the form. Curiously, 2001 was released in 1968, nine years before Star Wars (though that might just mean that Stanley Kubrick is more mature than George Lucas). One could quibble that 2001's psychedelic passages are too adolescent and its vast mute tracts too self-aggrandizing, but as a whole, the film is a profound exploration of the modern condition and far more than simply a story about Mir-like space mishaps.

The tale introduces us to one of the most famous inanimate characters in all of film: HAL. HAL is the master computer aboard the Discovery, programmed to run the mission and, if necessary, to overrule its human masters in order to accomplish the mission's prime directive. Of course, when HAL himself turns out to have a glitch, the humans aboard his ship confront a quandary: how do you override an omniscient computer that has a particularly well-developed zest for life? Or, to dig into at least one dollop of symbolism, how do we fill the metaphysical void left by a fallible supreme being in our own lives?

Despite the human-vs.-computer-in-space description, the film is decidedly not a gripping thriller. It yawns with open space and silence for much of its length before plunging at its conclusion into an altered dimension of surrealism. To modern viewers with short attention spans, it seems to capture the 60s perfectly: a lot of boredom broken up by the occasional ridiculous hallucination. In this movie, though, Kubrick provokes serious questions about our role in the universe, and about the source of human and artificial intelligence, while promiscuously dropping metaphors about God, predestination, and free will. A heady mix, but it sure beats reading a bunch of philosophical tracts.

Notes:

  • Nominated for 4 Academy Awards, including Best Director and Screenplay

  • Won 1 Academy Award: Best Visual Effects

  • If you bump each letter of the name HAL up one, you get IBM. The screenwriter claimed that this was unintentional

  • Placed #22 on the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest Movies" List