2001: A Space Odyssey Is Every Bit As Epic As 40 Years Ago In This New Trailer
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With Interstellar on the horizon, creeping nearer each and every day, space is on a lot of people’s minds right now. One of the titles often thrown around in comparison to Christopher Nolan’s film, including by the director himself, is Stanley Kubrick’s philosophical, mind-bending genre classic 2001: A Space Odyssey. This is a movie that has been a staple of repertory and midnight programs damn near since it premiered in 1968, but now it’s getting a new theatrical release. There’s a catch, however, you have to live in the U.K., because that’s where this is happening. Lucky bastards. But still, we have the first new trailer for 2001 in a great many years, and it is just as epic as you remember and imagined.
All of the high points are here in this video. You have the monolith, HAL 9000, those angry apes, Strauss’ “Also Sprach Zarathustra,” and the usual visual smorgasbord you expect from 2001. It’s hard not to watch this and be stirred at least a little. This is the first thing that comes to mind when I think of the idea of an epic movie, it’s so sweeping, so big, so jam packed with ideas and themes. As the Nolan quote says, there’s only one Stanley Kubrick, and there is a very good reason we don’t have any other movies like this one anywhere in the world.
Watching this trailer, after seeing so much from Interstellar over the recent days and weeks, really drives home just how much Nolan’s film owes, visually at least, to Kubrick’s. Just look at this still from Interstellar…
…and this one…
…and compare it to this screenshot from this trailer, and you may note some striking similarities. Then again, you’re observant folks, so I’m sure this isn’t news to you.
Shot in 65mm, 2001 is every bit the stunning masterpiece it was in 1968. If you haven’t seen it on a big screen, and if you just so happen to live in the U.K. that might help, you owe it to yourself as a sci-fi fan, or just a fan of movies, to check this out. I saw in in a theater a couple times, once in college, once just after, and it’s well worth the almost three hours of your life, no question.
The British Film Institute will release 2001: A Space Odyssey into theaters on November 28 as part of their program Sci-Fi: Days of Fear and Wonder.
