I had a goal for years: to
watch 2001 in it's entirety by the end of the year 2001. It took
me 4 attempts and I finally suceeded on December 26th, 2001. It took
me 3 days watching it in segments and fastforwarding past the monkeys that
had been my stumbling block before. Here in my overall impression
as sent in an e-mail to all those concerned. Responses and backlash
quickly followed.
I don't get it!!!!!!!!!
I consider myself a fairly deep thinker but this went WHOOSSH over my head.
The monkeys freaked me out.
The big black monolith appeared unpredicatbly
and no answers about it were given.
The space scenes were loooonnnnggg
and boring.
The actor with the most humanity
and emotion was HAL: The psycho-killer computer with the big red
eye. Ooopps, life support has malfuntioned....
HAL scared me. What do you
think you are doing Dave? My mind is going, I can feel it.
The hyperspace/plaid scene sent me
into fits of epileptic seizures.
WHAT"S WITH THE FETUS?????
WHOOSH over my head.
I don't get it.
The Backlash of my critique:
From Colleen: " The scariest part of the movie was when HAL was singing! I still have nightmares! My favourite line was 'rotate the pod please HAL'. That's my input and I agree it was horrible. Not even worth MST3K!!!!"
My Response: " Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer true: I'm half crazy all for the love of you......getting nightmares? Hee Hee. I forgot about that. It is indeed scary."
From Bonnie: As a diabolical joke, Bonnie forwarded this orginal critique to a particular aquaintance that is a die-hard Space Odyssey, (i.e Kubrick), fan. When he and I next met, I was instantly accosted. My, e-mail, he said frustrated him to no end. I was so close, you see to understanding, yet so far. Apparently HAL being the most human was intentional irony . As a sidebar, I should mention that a few weeks later, I watched 2010, a sequel. It is not Kubrick directed, but I must admit I was more enlightened. I no longer saw HAL as a cold calculating killer computer, but an entity with a confused conscience. I still don't get the fetus or the monolith and I still can not conceed that 2001 is a classic masterpiece in my humble opinion.
2001: I hurl a "speeding" electron
in you general direction!!!!!!!!