Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Audience Rating: G (General Audience)
Binding: HD DVD
EAN: 0012569792067
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Original recording remastered, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
Label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Release Date: October 23, 2007
Running Time: 148 minutes
Sales Rank: 21421
Studio: Warner Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: April 06, 1968
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Editorial Review:
Description:
A space mission that could reveal man?s destiny is jeopardized by a malfunctioning shipboard computer. A dazzling journey that tops them all ? and showed the way for other effects-packed films that followed.
Amazon.com essential video:
When Stanley Kubrick recruited Arthur C. Clarke to collaborate on 'the proverbial intelligent science fiction film,' it's a safe bet neither the maverick auteur nor the great science fiction writer knew they would virtually redefine the parameters of the cinema experience. A daring experiment in unconventional narrative inspired by Clarke's short story 'The Sentinel,' 2001 is a visual tone poem (barely 40 minutes of dialogue in a 139-minute film) that charts a phenomenal history of human evolution. From the dawn-of-man discovery of crude but deadly tools in the film's opening sequence to the journey of the spaceship Discovery and metaphysical birth of the 'star child' at film's end, Kubrick's vision is meticulous and precise. In keeping with the director's underlying theme of dehumanization by technology, the notorious, seemingly omniscient computer HAL 9000 has more warmth and personality than the human astronauts it supposedly is serving. (The director also leaves the meaning of the black, rectangular alien monoliths open for discussion.) This theme, in part, is what makes 2001 a film like no other, though dated now that its postmillennial space exploration has proven optimistic compared to reality. Still, the film is timelessly provocative in its pioneering exploration of inner- and outer-space consciousness. With spectacular, painstakingly authentic special effects that have stood the test of time, Kubrick's film is nothing less than a cinematic milestone--puzzling, provocative, and perfect. --Jeff Shannon
Amazon.com:
When Stanley Kubrick recruited Arthur C. Clarke to collaborate on 'the proverbial intelligent science fiction film,' it's a safe bet neither the maverick auteur nor the great science fiction writer knew they would virtually redefine the parameters of the cinema experience. A daring experiment in unconventional narrative inspired by Clarke's short story 'The Sentinel,' 2001 is a visual tone poem (barely 40 minutes of dialogue in a 139-minute film) that charts a phenomenal history of human evolution. From the dawn-of-man discovery of crude but deadly tools in the film's opening sequence to the journey of the spaceship Discovery and metaphysical birth of the 'star child' at film's end, Kubrick's vision is meticulous and precise. In keeping with the director's underlying theme of dehumanization by technology, the notorious, seemingly omniscient computer HAL 9000 has more warmth and personality than the human astronauts it supposedly is serving. (The director also leaves the meaning of the black, rectangular alien monoliths open for discussion.) This theme, in part, is what makes 2001 a film like no other, though dated now that its postmillennial space exploration has proven optimistic compared to reality. Still, the film is timelessly provocative in its pioneering exploration of inner- and outer-space consciousness. With spectacular, painstakingly authentic special effects that have stood the test of time, Kubrick's film is nothing less than a cinematic milestone--puzzling, provocative, and perfect. --Jeff Shannon
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating: - The best copy of 2001 Space Odyssey in Blu-ray....
Keep in mind how old this movie is and then sit back and be blown away of how good it looks on the new Blu-Ray format! If you've seen it before then this will give you another great reason to watch it again like never before. If you haven't seen it before it may be a little slow because back when the film was made they did not use a lot of ambient music and such to fill that uncomfortable scilence you sometimes get on the older movies. There seem to be more of those then I can remember on this film but it's still one of the greatest and inspired a lot of great now classics and newer films as well. If you have a good 1080p set and Blu-Ray player then sit back and drool....
Rating:  - Thankyou, Mr. Kubrick
Still a teenager when I first viewed "2001" at a tiny off-campus one screen theater....I recently bought the Bluray disc version....and viewed it on my 1080p Panasonic plasma screen....fantasically vivid in color and detail...simply amazing. It was as if I'd never seen the movie before. The extras are fascinating...watching with the commentary on gives you an insight into the making of the movie...but more importantly, gives you an appreciation...that Kubrick made this movie. Thankyou, Mr. Kubrick.
Rating: - Mercury Rising
People jeer at media-created celebrities of today like Paris Hilton, but things were worse in the 1950s and 1960s when we were always hearing about the ASTRONAUTS. Stuffed down our throats, nobodies like Scott Carpenter and Gordon Cooper became household names, even though (and maybe because of the fact that) what we knew about them was tightly controlled and protected by layers of government secrecy and PR. Even their wives were sort of famous, though they never really took as celebrities, none of them, no matter how many insipid articles in McCalls or Good Housekeeping on "Annie Glenn's Favorite Mincemeat Surprise" or "Cooking with Tang." There was Jackie Kennedy, then there were the astronauts, a group of highly trained men we all fell for, and I think Kubrick must have too, for he bases his astronaut heroes on the media representations of the original "Mercury Seven" US astronauts, wed to the plot of Arthur C. Clarke's story "The Sentinel," so that there would be a twist and the astronauts would seem soulful compared to the flat significations of HAL their pet computer.
I assume that's why Kubrick selected some fairly colorless US actors to play their parts, although who knows, at the time Keir Dullea was regarded as a deep well of tangled and tragic emotions after starring in DAVID AND LISA and BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING, but Gary Lockwood had nothing on his resume that would indicate any depth whatsoever, beyond his marriage to Stefanie Powers. Also in the cast, as Lockwood's mother, ... Read More
Rating:  - My mistake I read the book first!
I think where I went wrong was reading the book first. Considering the time it was made it was impressive in some of the style and effects but if I were to judge the film as a stand alone today it is just not that amazing. I am sure had I seen this in 1968 my mind would have been blown but in 2008 much less so. The first half feels twice as long as it actually is with very indulgent shots of stationary models moving across other models. Large portions of the story are just plain missing in favor of extended shots of switches and lights. When this movie came out I am sure it was exciting to see but it does not age well. In a lot of ways it suffers from the same problems many films from the 60s and 70s did; slow pacing, jarring soundtrack, guitar solo-esque visuals. The middle segment with HAL & Dave is probably the only part of the movie that is somewhat in the spirit of the book (which is awesome unlike this movie). I felt many aspects of the book were left out when it would have been beneficial to the story and instead were replaced by very slow atmospheric scenes. I love atmosphere myself but because I had the book in mind I was just wanting more meat to the film and that was lacking. I'm not entirely sure why the ending was changed, it's probably a great ending if you are into recreational drugs but I feel the book was a more satisfying ending because it more artfully tied the end to the beginning. The ending was really a grand payoff in the book and by going with Dave on his journey ... Read More
Rating: - One of My Favorite Films
Film buffs frequently create lists of their 10 favorite movies. My answer changes from day to day, but there are three films always on the list: 2001: A Space Odyssey, Fantasia, and Koyannisqatsi. A science-fiction drama, a cartoon and a new age documentary; three completely different films.
2001 is an imaginative look at how man's evolution might have been affected by outside influences. Much of the film has no dialogue whatever. The rest has occasional patches of dialogue, with most having nothing to do with the plot. There is the TV interview, a father's phone call on his daughter's birthday, proud parents radio message on their distant son's birthday, a computer's seeming random questions while working up the crew psychology report, the rambling song of a computer having its memory erased. None of this has anything to do with the search for the source of the strange artifact first found by prehistoric apes, then later by explorers on the moon and how it may affect man's future. More important than dialogue are the amazing visuals and music. The spaceship ballets, technical hardware, and the ending star gate dance of lights, combined with magnificent music evoke the sense of wonder and awe that the vastness of space and the possibilities of the future should inspire.
Walt Disney's Fantasia is a groundbreaking film creating a painted ballet to accompany several pieces of well-known music. The only dialogue is short introductions to each piece by renowned musicologist Deems ... Read More
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