Customer Reviews
Bravo Blu-ray - By: Brendan O. Clarke, 14 Nov 2008 
This slow, boring at times, movie is a classic. It gets played on my dvd player during bouts of insomnia or drunkeness or when i smokeweed. It has a Terrence Malick feel to itin my opinion; it is a visual tone poem much like Malick movies eg Days of Heaven where there is little dialogue. 2001: A Space Odyssey has barely 40 minutes of dialoguein a 145-minute film.
Regarding the plot, we move across centuries, from the birth of man with apes fighting it out to sociopathic Computer Hal taking a crew to Jupiterin a quest to understand a mysterious black monolith that may hold the key to God. Phew.
It also follows the adventures of a few astronautsin space & their motivations to mature & reflect on the situationin which they find themselves. The anti-hero is the malfunctioning super computer HAL900 ("I'm afraid, Dave. Dave, my mind is going. I can feel it.), but ultimately this movie is about Keir Dullea's Bowman who is rebornin a strange but comforting home environmet after enduring a hypnotic, if not hallucinogenic kaleidoscope of images on his journey to Jupiter. The definitive Kubrick movie is his best work & is also the high point of science fiction cinema. This is simply one of the greatest movies ever made.
Brendan Clarke,
C/O a Caravan, Edinburgh.
9/10.
Stunning - By: Mr. Dk Hamm, 06 Nov 2008 Believe it or not, I am one of the few people to never have seen 2001: A Space Odyssey before today. I wanted something to show off my shiny new Blu Ray player & HD TV so I decided that I would see what I had been missing for the last 40 years.
All I can say is Wow. In a way, I'm glad I waited because the film is so visual & it looks amazing on Blu Ray. If I had the DVD, I probably wouldn't have bought this version. I find that with some Blu Ray discs, I can't see what all the fuss is about but this one is excellent, especially considering the film is 40 years old.
The film can be a bit slow moving at times but, again, it was probably worth waiting because at my age (50) I can appreciate the finer points of the film which I may not have been able to when I was younger.
I will need to give this another viewingin order to pick up points that I may have missed as I have some questions about the plot that I could do with answering but with a film that looks this good, I don't have a problem with that at all & consider it added value for money.
I haven't got round to seeing the extras yet but there looks like there are some good documentaries & featurettes there & they have dug out the main actors to provide the commentary (what with Kubrick & Clarke being "unavailable").
"I must say, you guys have certainly come up with something..." - By: Kenneth F. Mcara, 15 Aug 2008 It was with a certain trepidation that I put this, my first blu-ray disk, into my new Panasonic blu-ray player. "2001: a space odyssey" has been my favourite film for as long as I can remember, & I've owned copies on a variety of VHS tapes & DVDs.
The theme is just about as epic as it's possible to imagine: the evolution of man from ape through human to a completely new life form. It's a film which has sharply polarised views, with some people completely mystified or even bored by the presentation, whilst others are spellbound & deeply moved. Unsurprisingly, I amin the second category, & still find myself surprised that Kubrick managed to get a major motion picture company to finance such a bold & imaginative film.
The presentation on blu-ray is beyond my wildest dreams. I take the point of a previous viewer about the visible joinsin the front-projection screens, which could no doubt have been digitally removed, but other than that the film isin appropriately pristine condition. I sat down to watch for a few minutes - just to check that the new blu-ray player was working - & found myself watching the whole way through to the end.
The special effects were always a highlight of the film, & they do not disappointin this new transfer. My particular favourite comes at the end of the first section of The Blue Danube where the camera appears to sail straight through between the 'wheels' of the space station - absolutely marvellous!
This film easily holds its place amongst other great cinema masterworks; watch this blu-ray version & find out exactly why.
A superb transfer for 2001 on BluRay - By: Mr. D. Britton, 09 Jul 2008 I was very excited to watch this again as it has been some time since I last sat down to watch it. I read on a few sites that this BluRay was very good quality for a film it's age, & boy were they right.
The film looks like it was made yesterday, so clean & fresh looking, highly detailed & almost looks 3d - the imagesin space are awesome,the quality of the sets & detailing all add to this being one of the best BluRays available.
How on Earth Stanley Kubrick came up with this level of production at the time I don't know. It's even groundbreaking by todays standards.
We have to remember there was no CGI back then & the film benefits from incredible models that look phenominally real.
This is not an action movie as such & the 2 & half hours go along at a steady & sometimes slow pace, but what you get from the movie is just sheer awe. The story of HAL going haywire is brilliant & I wished there had been a little more to that part of the story, but it's not a major gripe, it was & still is a classic movie for me.
Probably the most realistic looking SpaceMovie ever made, & on BluRay, it looks absolutely pristine, like watching it for the first time,there is oodles of stuff you end uplooking at that you simply can't see on DVD & the colours are also tremendous. From the sunsets to begin with, the lighting effectsin Space & beautiful iconic images that imbed into your mind make this film a breath of fresh air, & even more so on BluRay
.Some nice Extras are on the disc too, so it's been very nicely put together. One thing to notice is the movie instantly started upon playingin my ps3, so there was no menu from the start, but that was ok as I couldn't wait to get into it, I just had to press topmenu for the extras.
A Very Very Highly Recommended BluRay, one which will be treasured for a very long time. Reference stuff.
subtitles - By: Ros, 30 Jun 2008 Maybe someone one day will think abbout other peopplein the planet Earth, & will tall us if this (an all other films) have a SUBTITLES &in wich language?!!?!! Thanks a lot!
