It’s a truly impressive movie, with gorgeous music and stunning visuals... but also feels smug, empty, and undeniably overhyped. Stanley Kubrick is one of those directors for me who initially impresses with a great work, only to make you question his abilities with something utterly awful. I realize his fans will likely disagree strongly, but that’s my perspective, and I'll even go further: each time I watch a Kubrick film, I become more convinced that an unwarranted “cult” genius has been built up around him. I enjoyed several of his films like “Spartacus,” “Dr. Strangelove,” “The Shining,” and “Eyes Wide Shut,” but considering them alongside “Clockwork Orange” and “Full Metal Jacket” is a strange experience. They don't seem to be the work of the same filmmaker. Released in the 1960s, during a period when space exploration was at its peak and humanity’s future seemed increasingly tied to beyond our planet, the film approaches the question of human evolution in a unique way: it begins with primates and progresses to initial contact with extraterrestrial life. The movie is considered a crucial turning point for science fiction as a cinematic genre, and I believe that's an accurate assessment. It’s also one of the few sci-fi films that seems concerned with scientific accuracy, though not without flaws that someone knowledgeable in science would notice. The film depicts what space exploration and life on colonies in space and on the Moon might be like, set in a hypothetical future. However, it's ironic that after the 60s and 70s, space exploration has become so secondary that many questions remain unanswered today about whether we should really invest industrial amounts of money and resources into it. The future Kubrick envisioned in 2001 now seems, in 2022, even more imaginative and distant than when the film was first released. Still, some things have come to pass and are commonplace now: video calls and significant advancements in robotics and artificial intelligence, for example. Among the movie’s many strengths is its remarkable visual beauty, the director's skill with visual and special effects, and the excellent cinematography. At a time when computer-generated imagery was just a distant dream, this film delivers images and visuals that seem as if they were created recently. The film hasn't aged at all: we have crisp images, wonderfully crafted lighting and details, superb sound effects, a camera style that puts many 21st century films to shame, and also an outstanding soundtrack featuring “Blue Danube” and “Also Sprach Zarathustra,” which helped popularize those melodies. Despite these undeniable merits, I believe this film deserves to be on the list of the most overrated movies I’ve ever seen. This is largely due to everything else that I haven't mentioned, but which is essential for a good movie. Let’s begin with the lack of a script and its terrible pacing: for nearly three hours, the film drags along endlessly in scenes of great beauty, but without anything substantial to say. It’s truly frustrating. The only moments when the film becomes genuinely interesting are when the ship's computer turns against the astronauts, and even that section feels disjointed, like a collection of random pieces. The allusions to aliens didn't fascinate me either; it’s a standard trope in space-themed films. Another issue is the absence of strong performances from the actors, or any decent material for them to work with, plus Kubrick portrays life on the space stations as if it were a stay at a luxurious resort. And what about that pervasive sense of arrogant self-importance the film projects? It’s up to us to decide if something is good; the movie shouldn't be telling us that every minute!

Source on TMDB