2001 is deliberate. It is slow. Space and time are slow, in the context of the universe. But it is a wonderful picture that challenged conventional movie entertainment, special effects, even the use of music and dialogue, or lack of it.

Stanley Kubrick split 2001 (based on the Arthur C. Clarke novel) into four parts, all connected with a smooth, black monolith, identical but for its size, yet equal in proportion. In the dawn of man, the primitive apes encounter the monolith, leading to the discovery of tools, both for benefit and destruction. Much closer to the present day, another monolith is discovered on the moon. Scientists believe it to be deliberately buried. We see the majesty and deliberate nature of space and technology at work in the slow docking sequence between space craft and space station.

In the year 2001 itself, astronauts aboard a space craft are traveling to Jupiter to investigate another black monolith orbiting the planet. Perhaps the coldest of all movie villains, the HAL 9000 computer controls the mundane life of long-term space travel. Order dissolves when the human crew suspect a problem with HAL's programming, and attempt to override it. In the most unusual ending of any movie at the time, the monolith challenges a character's existence. He is dying. He is born. He is in another part of the universe, or he sits in his bedroom. He is intelligent but naive. He is flesh, or he is aware without a physical body.

2001 is not for everyone because it is not escapist entertainment. Conveying such thought requires time and patience. No one can agree on the total meaning of the film, which is likely its best feature. Your interpretation, different from another person's view, is just as correct.