Is it good? Is it bad? Apparantly the movie was less popular when it was just released in 1968, but during the years it has claimed its little corner in photograpic history.
Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssee” is definitely not for the impatient. There is hardly a storyline and it’s up the viewer to connect the images together to a story. Clearly the monolith is one of those major clues: where ever the monolith appears there’s apparently havoc. Kubrick’s use of ‘Blue Danube’ and ‘Also sprach Zarathustra’ mark mankinds greatests achievements, space exploration. But incidentally, the use of those tunes makes one wonder if Kubrick is merely deriding human’s obsession with technology: because every new discovery marks the end of (one’s?) life.
I think, generally speaking, this movie should be on your ‘to-see’ list, even if you don’t like science fiction. If it wasn’t for the Sixties/Seventies’ technology, then it’s for the special (photographic) effects. And for the open conclusion at the end: it’s up to you what to think of this movie.