It’s a slightly click-baity title, but as we’re still generating more content for our magazines, this one included, why not?
My Sci-fi unpopular opinion is that 2001: A Space Odyssey is nothing but pretentious, LSD fueled nonsense. I’ve tried watching it multiple times and each time I have absolutely no patience for the pointless little scenes which contain little to no depth or meaningful plot, all coalescing towards that 15 minute “journey” through space and series of hallucinations or whatever that are supposed to be deep, shake you to your foundations, and make you re-think the whole human condition.
But it doesn’t. Because it’s just pretentious, LSD fueled nonsense. Planet of the Apes was released in the same year and is, on every level, a better Sci-fi movie. It offers mystery, a consistent and engaging plot, relatable characters you actually care about, and asks a lot more questions about the world and our place in it.
I see the entire movie as a satirically propogandized version of the book, all down to exactly what they chose -not- to put in from the books, such as Rico’s father’s plotline. Focusing on “the hero of Klendathu” turns a straightforward critique on the military industrial complex into a brash critique on exactly the kind of toxic patriotism that leads to warmongering, and how the soldiers on the ground are the victims to that end. Certainly different stories, but I argue they both fit neatly into the lore when taken on face value. [Would you like to know more?]
I think this depends on what age you are when you watch it. My son watched it recently (17) and his take away was WAY different. Much more action movie. It took another viewing to really get into the why and background information of the movie.
It’s been a long time since I read the book (really long). With the new video game that just came out for it hopefully it’ll get more people reading it (but probably not, they’ll just watch the movie lol) but the game looks fun