2001: A Space Odyssey

1968 Directed by Stanley Kubrick

The Ultimate Trip.

Humanity finds a mysterious object buried beneath the lunar surface and sets off to find its origins with the help of HAL 9000, the world's most advanced super computer.

Keir Dullea Gary Lockwood William Sylvester Douglas Rain Daniel Richter Leonard Rossiter Margaret Tyzack Robert Beatty Sean Sullivan Frank Miller Ed Bishop Edwina Carroll Heather Downham Penny Brahms Maggie d'Abo Chela Matthison Judy Kiern Alan Gifford Ann Gillis Vivian Kubrick Kenneth Kendall Kevin Scott Martin Amor Bill Weston Glenn Beck Mike Lovell John Ashley Jimmy Bell David Charkham Show All…

Alternative Titles

How the Solar System Was Won, Journey Beyond the Stars, Two Thousand and One: A Space Odyssey, 终极之旅, 2001: Космическа одисея, 2001: Uzay Yolu Macerası, 2001: Een Zwerftocht in de Ruimte, 2001: Ruimte Odyssee, 2001: Vesmírná Odysea, 2001: A Space Odyssey - Extended Edition, 2001: Uma Odisséia no Espaço

mystery science fiction adventure

149 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by dEL 66

8 A.M. Sunday, 12th of January, 2014. HAL'S birthday. I'm tired as fuck.
HAL.
IBM.
HAL/IBM. HAL=IBM. IBM=HAL.
H+1 = I
A+1 = B
L+1 = M
So HAL is indisputably IBM. Just go one letter on in the alphabet from H, A and L and you get I, B and M.
But what is IBM? A computer company Kubrick had a grudge against? Or are we just missing a "T" in the greatest riddle known to mankind? Confused? Allow me to demonstrate.
IBM
I= 9th letter of the alphabet.
B= 2nd letter of the alphabet.
M= 13th letter of the alphabet.
9+2+13= 24.
X= 24th letter of the alphabet.
X= 10 in Roman numerals, so IBM= 10.
HAL
H=…
Review by Matt Singer ★★★★★ 33

Dear College-Age Matt Singer, who thinks this movie is long, boring, and pretentious:
You’re a fucking idiot.
Love,
Your Older, Smarter Self.
Review by ScreeningNotes ★★★★★ 59

Ever since I joined Letterboxd, nothing has scared me more than the idea of trying to write about 2001: A Space Odyssey. The fact that everything has "already been said" about this masterpiece has itself already been said so many times that there's not even an original means of expressing my lack of originality left at my disposal. So with the knowledge that I will probably never be able to fully encapsulate what makes this my favorite movie of all time—let alone say something truly unique about it—here is a small list of a few things I love about it.
I love that the monolith has remained an enigmatic symbol capable of being read in any number of different ways…
Review by Mary Conti ½ 300

2001:A Space Odyssey is quite simply the worst thing to happen to cinema ever. Its forced profundity has caused millions of people all over the world to force themselves to like what is quite simply nothing more than an exercise in style.
Kubrick has no idea what he is doing here. His film jumps around with little to no sense of unity. The great film makers of the world create a series of events that contain clarity of information, something Kubrick couldn't bet his life on.
What is the purpose of what is going on here? Is there any coherent message? I have heard suggestions that it is Kubrick's message about the future of humanity, but what future is that? Does Kubrick even know?
This is Transformers for the art house crowd. Pure style over substance. Nobody actually likes this film, they just like to be seen liking it.
Review by Lucy ★★★★★ 6

“i can feel it. i can feel it. i can feel it”
maybe the most monumental film in history, and even better on the big screen. and while rewatching it today, i finally realized why it hits me so hard every time: it doesn’t feel like fiction to me. i know it is, but it feels tangible, like an eventual future, even in the abstract. there’s a thread of truth running through it, sparking a fear and wonder in me that no film has ever matched in the same way, the most colossal and terrifying inevitability of our current existence: we are not alone
Review by Karsten Runquist ★★★★★ 16

saw it in IMAX. i know this is an unpopular opinion but this movie is great!
Review by demi adejuyigbe ★★★★½ 24

I've had this movie on Blu-Ray for maybe 4 years now and I've always been worried to watch it because it seemed like something I had to be in "the right mood" for. When a friend told me it was playing at the Arclight in 70mm, I said "fuck the mood" and bought myself a ticket, presuming that a 70mm theater screening is the best way to see this thing.
Honestly? I still don't know if that's true. It felt like a huge experience. But this is the second time I've seen a 70mm movie in theaters (the first time being The Hateful Eight) and both times I came away thinking: it doesn't really look better to me. And with…
Review by Lulu ★★★★½ 2

y'all make fun of alexa now but she's bound to snap one of these days...
Review by Charlie Morris ★★½ 133

I had a disclaimer at the top of this review but everybody went off telling me how wrong I was anyway, so scrap that, you'll just have to remember that this is merely one person's opinion and that we're all entitled to one.
First of all, I like Kubrick's films, love some of them in fact, but I can't even pretend to like this one. Of course I understand the influence this film had on the industry in its time, but that doesn't mean that I found it enjoyable.
It was heavy breathing and scenes of nothing (pretty nothing, nevertheless) against epic music, or sometimes even just a creepy choir, for 140 minutes straight. I wanted to switch it off…
Review by Eli Hayes ★★★★★ 24

Everything that could have possibly been written about this film pretty much has been by now. So instead of reviewing 2001: A Space Odyssey, I'm just going to say - if you love 2001 as much as I do, here are some other films that you might enjoy:
- The Tree of Life (2011), dir. Terrence Malick
- Solaris (1972), dir. Andrei Tarkovsky
- Baraka (1992), dir. Ron Fricke
- Werckmeister Harmonies (2000), dir. Bela Tarr
- Under the Skin (2013), dir. Jonathan Glazer
- The Double Life of Veronique (1991), dir. Krzysztof Kieslowski
- It's Such a Beautiful Day (2012), dir. Don Hertzfeldt
- Angel's Egg (1985), dir. Mamoru Oshii
- Enter the Void (2009), dir. Gaspar Noe
-…
Review by Aaron ★★★★★ 67

“I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do.”
In the beginning was the Monolith, and the Monolith was with God, and the Monolith was God.
From where had the Monolith derived? It scarcely mattered. If it had always been there, then it had come from nowhere. It simply was. The nothing from which everything sprang. The animating stimulus that drove the amoeba to split in two. The force of nature that extinguished the great lizards not inclined toward avian salvation. The spark of ingenuity that made the ape stand upright and realize its potential for violent innovation.
The Monolith was not “natural” in any traditional…
Review by SilentDawn ★★★★★ 7

100
A few notes on the Christopher Nolan-supervised 'unrestored' 70mm print:
- First off, it was indescribably gorgeous. Deep, limitless blacks, sharp and distinct range of colors, and off-the-chart clarity. 65mm photography doesn't merely allow for a greater appreciation of the composition or the 'look' - it frees up each individual element to be its finest, most perfect self. Want to focus on faces? Go ahead. In it for the location and set design? It's all yours. Fascinated by gestural details and minutiae? Knock yourself out. 2001: A Space Odyssey, in 70mm, from sound to image and presentation, allows the art to fully speak for itself.
- That thought and consideration is so beautiful to me, so I was a…

Recent reviews

Review by Guillermo Pinochet ★★★★★

Jesus Moses
Review by jasmineelyse ★★★★½

10% plot, 90% vibes
Review by RottentomSurfer ★★★★

Decidedly non-narrative and confounding. A good film to watch when you hate yourself.
Review by Emilion_rb ★★★★★

It’s hard to talk about this film in an objective way, but I can easily it’s one of the greatest and most influential science fiction films of all time.
Review by rascalaa ★★★★

Verithanam maxxx!
Review by Troyman8 ★★★★★

What is there to say? Calling this movie a masterpiece is basically clichéd at this point.
I think Kubrick’s movies range from almost perfect to perfect. And at the risk of seeming redundant, I think this movie is one of five masterpieces by the legend. Along with: Barry Lyndon, A Clockwork Orange (my personal favorite), Paths of Glory, and Doctor Strangelove.
Still haven’t seen Spartacus or Fear & Desire but I am really looking forward to it.
Review by nes a. ★★★★½

the fact that this movie predates every classic of its kind and also most gen-Xers existence makes for a legend of its time
Review by Hayes Brenner ★★★★★

I cannot believe this movie got made, but I'm so so so glad it did.
Review by Cody

This is only the 2nd time I’ve seen this film.
I watched it over a decade ago so I thought I’d revisit it to see if my indifference to it had changed.
I definitely enjoyed it more this time around.
HAL’s final moments were unsettling.
The colorful travel through space and time was a ride fit for amateur stoners with a nice payoff.
There’s plenty left for the audience to ponder which I love.
The film still feels a bit dry for me to completely sink into it but it’s fully worth the adventure.
Review by Nehusito ★★

Cómo ver odisea 2001 y no morir en el intento:
Ver del minuto 10 al 15
Del 20 al 23 (puede ser un poco más o un poco menos, es para ver la maravilla de la edición que tiene esta película)
Aprox minuto 26 primer diálogo (ahí me di cuenta que tenía la película en español y no en idioma original)
Después de eso perdí la noción del tiempo y Vi todo
Esa es una forma... La otra forma posible es directamente no verla nunca y ser feliz por el resto de tu vida
Una película que se hace larga y densa por tener escenas extremadamente largas sin sentido que tranquilamente se pueden recortar, más allá de eso esta muy bien contada y se entiende fácil, también quiero agregar que la voz de Hall9000 está muy bien lograda pero no explotan ese recurso.
Review by lacobus779 ★★★½

maybe I’m just stupid but I did not understand what the fuck was happening here. still, pretty cool visuals and solid entertainment.
Review by Dante Cardinale ★★★★★

Viendo la filmografía de Kubrick en orden cronológico sigo sin entender como saltó a esta obra maestra gigante después de Dr. Strangelove.