Stanley Kubrick redefined the limits of filmmaking in his classic science fiction masterpiece, a contemplation on the nature of humanity, 2001: A Space Odyssey.
At the dawn of mankind, a population of pre-human apes are visited on Earth by a large black monolith. Thousands of years later, scientist Dr Heywood Floyd (William Sylvester) discovers a similar black monolith on the moon, which then emits a signal aimed at the planet Jupiter.
A year later, astronauts Dr David Bowman (Keir Dullea) and Dr Frank Poole (Gary Lockwood) are en route to Jupiter to investigate the signal's destination and purpose. However, their mission comes under threat when their ship's sentient computer, HAL (voice of Douglas Rain), seemingly develops a malfunction...
Voted no. 6 in Sight and Sound's critics' poll of the Greatest Films of All Time, 2001 is an extraordinary sci-fi epic which retains the power to stagger over 50 years after its release.
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