Originally, I was writing a huge analysis of this film to post on IMDb, going through the film, thinking about it in detail and peeling back all the different layers to it. About half way through I realised that it was getting too long, and I should perhaps be more concise with my review. This however, showcases the huge amount of substance and detail to be found in this film.
In my opinion, the best films aren't the ones that tell you things. The best films are the ones that ask you questions, so that you can think about it for yourself.
The biggest theme in this film, in my opinion, is tools. Near the beginning of the film we are watching two tribes of apes just after the creation of the world. They are rival tribes, but then there is a pivotal moment which changes everything. One tribe discovers tools, in the form of using dead animal bones as weapons, and they are automatically superior. When one apes is playing, smashing a bone against another bone, he throws it up in the air and we witness one of my favourite cuts of all time. Suddenly it cuts to a spaceship with a similar shape, millions of years later, and we come to witness the tools that were discovered by the apes now defining who the humans are. The place they are staying in, a spaceship, is a tool. Breathing, which should be a wholly natural thing, can only be done through a tool. A man's only means of contacting his family is through a tool. For a large part of the film the characters wear spacesuits which, to me, although it is all up to interpretation, is symbolic, as, without their spacesuits (a tool) they would be naked.
Later in the film, we spend a long time following an expedition to Jupiter which has on board an artificial intelligence computer, HAL, an astronaut Dave, and about three other Astronauts in hibernation. The thing that is striking about this section of the film is that Dave and the other Astronaut who awakens, both give extremely unrealistic and unemotional performances. That probably sounds like a bad thing to you, but that's exactly what the director wanted to convey. The fascinating thing about it is that in a ship full of a number of humans and a computer, the computer seems to have the most humanity.
In this section, the two Astronauts decide HAL the computer, has gone out of control and they must unplug him. HAL finds out, and a fascinating situation arises. HAL feels fear. Here, it is easy to view HAL as a one dimensional villain who just wants to destroy things, but really, I think he fears being unplugged in the same way a person would fear being killed. I also think he reacts in quite a human way, killing the the Astronauts in order to save himself. However, Dave reaches HAL's control room and so begins a scene that I think is more disturbing than most things you find in a 12 (I'm British, but I think that translates to a PG-13 in the USA). In this scene Dave unplugs HAL and the most interesting question in the film arises. Is this murder? Whichever way, this is a very sad scene as HAL shows genuine human sadness and fear.
At the end of the film, after an odd sequence consisting of Dave going through a light, colour tunnel and then seeing various landscapes in weird inverted colours, he lands in an eighteenth century room. This is a highly debated scene and is completely open to interpretation, but I will give my views on it:
In this scene, I think that Dave, has travelled so far out, that time and space are insignificant. What I mean is that he has travelled to a place where it doesn't matter where, or when you are, time moves randomly. You could be in the eighteenth century, you could be on earth, you could keep getting older or you could keep getting older, (which all happen to him): it doesn't matter. And then what I think is the most ambiguous ending in film history unfolds. A much much older version of him appears dying on a bed, then you see a baby on the bed replacing where he was which grows and in the final shot you see it next to the earth, a similar size.
So what does the ending mean? What does the film mean? What is it saying about tools? Was the unplugging of HAL really murder? Is HAL really human? What makes us human? Is it trying to imply we are too reliant on tools? Perhaps it is trying to imply that we ourselves are becoming the tools, as the beings with the least humanity. This brings me to my first point. 2001 never makes any statements it, only asks questions. And the great thing about that is that, they are interesting questions I can think about for as long as I want and never come to a conclusion, as I don't think there ever was one.
In my opinion, the best films aren't the ones that tell you things. The best films are the ones that ask you questions, so that you can think about it for yourself.
The biggest theme in this film, in my opinion, is tools. Near the beginning of the film we are watching two tribes of apes just after the creation of the world. They are rival tribes, but then there is a pivotal moment which changes everything. One tribe discovers tools, in the form of using dead animal bones as weapons, and they are automatically superior. When one apes is playing, smashing a bone against another bone, he throws it up in the air and we witness one of my favourite cuts of all time. Suddenly it cuts to a spaceship with a similar shape, millions of years later, and we come to witness the tools that were discovered by the apes now defining who the humans are. The place they are staying in, a spaceship, is a tool. Breathing, which should be a wholly natural thing, can only be done through a tool. A man's only means of contacting his family is through a tool. For a large part of the film the characters wear spacesuits which, to me, although it is all up to interpretation, is symbolic, as, without their spacesuits (a tool) they would be naked.
Later in the film, we spend a long time following an expedition to Jupiter which has on board an artificial intelligence computer, HAL, an astronaut Dave, and about three other Astronauts in hibernation. The thing that is striking about this section of the film is that Dave and the other Astronaut who awakens, both give extremely unrealistic and unemotional performances. That probably sounds like a bad thing to you, but that's exactly what the director wanted to convey. The fascinating thing about it is that in a ship full of a number of humans and a computer, the computer seems to have the most humanity.
In this section, the two Astronauts decide HAL the computer, has gone out of control and they must unplug him. HAL finds out, and a fascinating situation arises. HAL feels fear. Here, it is easy to view HAL as a one dimensional villain who just wants to destroy things, but really, I think he fears being unplugged in the same way a person would fear being killed. I also think he reacts in quite a human way, killing the the Astronauts in order to save himself. However, Dave reaches HAL's control room and so begins a scene that I think is more disturbing than most things you find in a 12 (I'm British, but I think that translates to a PG-13 in the USA). In this scene Dave unplugs HAL and the most interesting question in the film arises. Is this murder? Whichever way, this is a very sad scene as HAL shows genuine human sadness and fear.
At the end of the film, after an odd sequence consisting of Dave going through a light, colour tunnel and then seeing various landscapes in weird inverted colours, he lands in an eighteenth century room. This is a highly debated scene and is completely open to interpretation, but I will give my views on it:
In this scene, I think that Dave, has travelled so far out, that time and space are insignificant. What I mean is that he has travelled to a place where it doesn't matter where, or when you are, time moves randomly. You could be in the eighteenth century, you could be on earth, you could keep getting older or you could keep getting older, (which all happen to him): it doesn't matter. And then what I think is the most ambiguous ending in film history unfolds. A much much older version of him appears dying on a bed, then you see a baby on the bed replacing where he was which grows and in the final shot you see it next to the earth, a similar size.
So what does the ending mean? What does the film mean? What is it saying about tools? Was the unplugging of HAL really murder? Is HAL really human? What makes us human? Is it trying to imply we are too reliant on tools? Perhaps it is trying to imply that we ourselves are becoming the tools, as the beings with the least humanity. This brings me to my first point. 2001 never makes any statements it, only asks questions. And the great thing about that is that, they are interesting questions I can think about for as long as I want and never come to a conclusion, as I don't think there ever was one.