Film Review: 2001: A Space Odyssey

"I've Never Completely Freed Myself From The Suspicion That There Are Some Extremely Odd Things About This Mission..." 

With The Shining re-released into cinema chains across the country last year, the brilliance of Stanley Kubrick's masterful adaptation of Stephen King's most iconic novel meant that audiences could experience the works of one of the greatest filmmakers of all time for potentially the first occasion upon the big screen, and with this year being fifty years since the release of 2001: A Space Odyssey, the chance to embrace one of the greatest and most influential science fiction movies of all time within the confines of all its' cinematic glory is similarly too tantalising to pass by. Based upon Arthur C. Clarke's 1951 short story, "The Sentinel", Kubrick's undisputed masterpiece has been subject to tributes, parody and political analysis in regards to its' potential leanings on the filming of the Moon landing ever since its' first release, a questionable standpoint if ever there was one, and with groundbreaking special effects, a spine-tingling musical accompaniment and the subversive, auteur touch of Kubrickian's perfectionist idealism, 2001 remains to this day an unmissable experience, one which captures the scope of endless cinematic possibility and one which emphasises the bold strokes of a master filmmaker at his most unparalleled and extravagant. 

With the fanfare of Richard Strauss' "Also sprach Zarathustra" bellowing majestically against the backdrop of Earth's reveal, a stellar introductory piece which rivals the opening scroll of Star Wars for most iconic science fiction prologue, the first act's dedication to the discovery of both man's ability to kill and the appearance of the ominous alien monolith is a staggering work of cinematic bravery, one which picks off those unable to handle the stagnated, silent aura of Kubrick's storytelling and one which features the most ridiculous, yet brilliant, editing jump cut in which two instruments of death are swiftly compared, just with million of years in between. With on-screen speech not occurring until the twenty minute mark when the introduction of William Sylvester's Dr. Heywood Floyd brings with it exposition which attempts to outline the ambiguous nature surrounding a supposed mass epidemic at a moon-based space station, the gorgeous special effects and cute, clever technical asides being presented to the backdrop of Johann Strauss' "The Blue Danube" is an outstanding cinematic partnership, with the set design and Oscar winning visual effects both remarkable and as beautiful today as it would have been half a century ago, and for younger audiences who have been treated to increasingly impressive special effects over the past few decades or so, the one real reservation of seeing the effects of 2001 on the big screen is the shame of not seeing it back in 1968 when its' unprecedented spectacle would have been jaw-dropping. 

As the movie moves into its third act and most impressive act, the trials and tribulations of the ill-fated Jupiter Mission is the centrepiece of the film's real action, a tense build-up of muddled uncertainty and of course, the deadly "malfunctioning" of the iconic HAL-9000, the super computer whose flawless and perfect technical record is questioned by Gary Lockwood and Keir Dullea's Frank Poole and David Bowman, two on-board scientists unaware of the bigger picture surrounding their suspiciously ambiguous deep space mission. With Douglas Rain brilliantly supplying the voice for HAL, his creepy yet elegant monotone speech is the work of genius, one which captures perfectly the sense of something that may indeed feel human but is undoubtedly still a cold and very calculating machine, a factor evidenced by the relatively nonchalant way death is portrayed on-screen. With the final twenty minutes dedicated to Bowman's journey through the Infinite, the famous surrealist "star-gate" sequence is absolutely bewildering and stunning to behold within the cinematic format, a vivid roller-coaster of beautiful imagery which transports the audience to science fiction heaven and beyond. With a concluding act which leaves all questions intact without clear answers or the chance for any form of meaningful resolution like the best science fiction movies are brave enough to do, 2001: A Space Odyssey deserves its' chance to be witnessed on the big screen, and with it hard to believe such a movie has ticked over to the ripe old age of fifty, it wouldn't be surprising to see Kubrick's masterpiece still as effective as ever in another fifty years' time. 

Overall Score: 10/10

Film Review: The Shining

"I'm Sorry To Differ With You Sir, But You Are The Caretaker. You've Always Been The Caretaker..."

In a year where the works of Stephen King have seemed to have taken siege upon both the big screen and the small, the re-release of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining ironically seeks out to remind how much the horror masterpiece differs from its' ghostly source material, and whilst King himself has famously distanced himself from the 1980 classic on a moral level, the haunting ambiguity and off-kilter tonal essence of Kubrick's classic once again reminds why such a movie is always part of the conversation when discussing the greatest and most influential horror movies of all time. Published in January of 1977, King's third novel quickly followed the breakout successes of Carrie and Salem's Lot, and whilst the story on the surface primarily focuses on the horrors of the Overlook Hotel and the toll it takes on the Torrance family, the underlying notions of alcoholism and regret mirrored the struggles of the novel's own during that period of time, resulting in The Shining being arguably King's most personal work up to that date, creating an understandable air of indifference from King to a movie released only three years later which decided to focus primarily on the supernatural elements of the novel rather than the subplots regarding familial tensions and the conflicted leading character of Jack Torrance to a larger extent portrayed on film. Thankfully for Kubrick, his version of The Shining is arguably more terrifying than one could have envisioned when adapting King's story from page to screen, thanks primarily to a typically maddened performance from Jack Nicholson whose portrayal of the writer's block inflicted father will arguably go down as his most iconic and memorable role within a career which goes down with arguably one of the greatest ever. 

Whilst the casting of Nicholson seemed to many at the time to be one of ease over exploration, with Nicholson's Oscar winning performance as Randle McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest already showcasing Nicholson's penchant for portraying the slightly insane, the guidance of Kubrick as the film's master of puppets resulted in a live-action Jack Torrance which seeped with uncertainty and ferocious ingrained rage from beginning to end. With Shelley Duvall as the repressed, doe-eyed Wendy Torrance on Nicholson's arm and the youthful appearance of Danny Lloyd as son, Danny, a child afflicted with the titular mysterious power as coined by Scatman Crothers' Dick O'Halloran, Kubrick's take on the already well established horror genre is arguably his most auteurist within a filmography which puts most recent filmmakers to shame, and whilst the likes of 2001: A Space Odyssey and Dr Strangelove proved the widening spectrum of Kubrick's work, his OCD-esque tendency for frame-by-frame perfection and famously subverted workings of actors, sets and camera usage is no more apparent than in The Shining, a film, which not unlike the book, has a surface narrative regarding one man's descent into darkness but underneath is filled with famously hidden notions which ranged from everything from Kubrick's stance on the moon landing to a comment regarding the massacring of native American indians. 

Of course, the discussion regarding the hidden elements of Kubrick's masterpiece is not exactly hot topic for most, and when reviewing the movie on just cinematic grounds, The Shining is near flawless, a ice-cold spook-a-thon which although was aware of previous examples of the genre such as The Haunting and more obviously, The Amytiville Horror, broke new ground in its' ghostly balance between psychological horror and flat out slasher, one which is all helmed together by the performance of Nicholson and arguably the most impressive batch of iconic set pieces to ever grace the genre of horror. Whether it be Danny's meeting with the mysterious visitor in Room 237, the image of two deceased twins or of course, the legendary, improvised line of "here's Johnny", The Shining is a rare case of a movie which although is a shadow of the source material of which I am undoubtedly a huge fan, is undoubtedly a masterwork in its' own way, and with the chance to see Kubrick's movie on the big screen for the very first time this week, such an opportunity is one which film fans in general cannot pass by.

Overall Score: 10/10