2001 does come off a bit slow. Part of that is the frequent outside, space shots that have no sound, as they should. We've come to expect beeping noises every time a light flashes and explosions when you dump pressure real fast. Realism points were subtracted from excitment points. No sound forces you to pay attention to what is going on and that's pretty much a pod moving against a black background. Not real exciting. But where 2001 wins is a pretty good story, some great special effects and yes, realism. Even some pretty cool music.

I would have like to have seen the stuff that was in the book, at the end. Two stars rotating around each other, a space port with abandonded space ships sitting out front. It's been a long time since I read the book but he described some pretty cool stuff that Bowman saw at the end. All they had in the movie was flashing lights and lava lamp footage. However if you use your immagination you can see it as stars being born and worm holes or something.

At any rate, 2001 is pretty ceribral. You really need to watch it a few times to see how good it really is. I like it but I can understand those who find it slow or boring.

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