Plot Summary
"2001" is a story of evolution. Sometime in the distant past, someone or something nudged evolution by placing a monolith on Earth (presumably elsewhere throughout the universe as well). Evolution then enabled humankind to reach the moon's surface, where yet another monolith is found, one that signals the monolith placers that humankind has evolved that far. Now a race begins between computers (HAL) and human (Bowman) to reach the monolith placers. The winner will achieve the next step in evolution, whatever that may be.  

 This movie is concerned with intelligence as the division between animal and human, then asks a question: what is the next division? Technology is treated as irrelevant to the quest--literally serving as mere vehicles for the human crew and as a shell for the immature HAL entity. Story told as a montage of impressions, music, and impressive and careful attention to subliminal detail. A very influential film and still a class act, even after 25 years.  

 When a large black monolith is found beneath the surface of the moon, the reaction immediately is that it was intentionally buried. When the point of origin is confirmed as Jupiter, an expedition is sent in hopes of finding the source. When Dr. David Bowman discovers faults in the expeditionary spacecraft's communications system, he discovers more than he ever wanted to know. 

 The monoliths have been watching us. They gave humankind the evolutionary kick in the pants it needed to survive at the Dawn of Time. In 1999, humankind discovered a second monolith on the moon. Now, in the year 2001, the S.S. Discovery and its crew, Captains Dave Bowman and Frank Poole, and their onboard computer, HAL 9000, must discover what alien force is watching Earth....  

 When the world is ruled by apes, one particular group discovers a mysterious rectangular monolith near their home, which imparts upon them the knowledge of tool use, and enables them to evolve into people. A similar monolith is discovered on the moon, and it is determined to have come from an area near Jupiter. Astronaut Dave Bowman, along with four companions, sets off for Jupiter on a spaceship controlled by HAL 9000, a revolutionary computer system that is every bit humankind's equal--and perhaps its superior. When HAL endangers the crew's lives for the sake of the mission, Bowman will have to first overcome the computer, then travel to the birthplace of the monolith.

Critical reaction

Upon release, 2001 polarized critical opinion, receiving both ecstatic praise and vehement derision. Some critics viewed the original 161-minute cut shown at premieres in Washington D.C., New York, and Los Angeles,[1] while others saw the 19-minute-shorter general release version that was in theaters from April 10, 1968 onwards.

Positive
 In The New Yorker, Penelope Gilliatt said it was "some kind of great film, and an unforgettable endeavor...The film is hypnotically entertaining, and it is funny without once being gaggy, but it is also rather harrowing."  Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times opined that it was "the picture that science fiction fans of every age and in every corner of the world have prayed (sometimes forlornly) that the industry might some day give them. It is an ultimate statement of the science fiction film, an awesome realization of the spatial future ... it is a milestone, a landmark for a spacemark, in the art of film."  Louise Sweeney of The Christian Science Monitor felt that 2001 was "a brilliant intergalactic satire on modern technology. It's also a dazzling 160-minute tour on the Kubrick filmship through the universe out there beyond our earth."  Philip French wrote that the film was "perhaps the first multi-million-dollar supercolossal movie since D.W. Griffith's Intolerance fifty years ago which can be regarded as the work of one man...Space Odyssey is important as the high-water mark of science-fiction movie making, or at least of the genre's futuristic branch."  The Boston Globe's review indicated that it was "the world's most extraordinary film. Nothing like it has ever been shown in Boston before or, for that matter, anywhere ... The film is as exciting as the discovery of a new dimension in life."  Roger Ebert gave the film four stars in his original review, believing the film "succeeds magnificently on a cosmic scale."  He later put it on his Top 10 list for Sight & Sound. Time provided at least seven different mini-reviews of the film in various issues in 1968, each one slightly more positive than the preceding one; in the final review dated December 27, 1968, the magazine called 2001 "an epic film about the history and future of mankind, brilliantly directed by Stanley Kubrick. The special effects are mindblowing."

Negative
 However, Pauline Kael said it was "a monumentally unimaginative movie,"  and Stanley Kauffmann of The New Republic called it "a film that is so dull, it even dulls our interest in the technical ingenuity for the sake of which Kubrick has allowed it to become dull." Renata Adler of The New York Times wrote that it was "somewhere between hypnotic and immensely boring."  Variety's 'Robe' believed the film was a "Big, beautiful, but plodding sci-fi epic ... A major achievement in cinematography and special effects, 2001 lacks dramatic appeal to a large degree and only conveys suspense after the halfway mark."  Andrew Sarris called it "one of the grimmest films I have ever seen in my life ... 2001 is a disaster because it is much too abstract to make its abstract points."  (Sarris reversed his opinion upon a second viewing of the film, and declared "2001 is indeed a major work by a major artist." ) John Simon felt it was "a regrettable failure, although not a total one. This film is fascinating when it concentrates on apes or machines ... and dreadful when it deals with the in-betweens: humans...2001, for all its lively visual and mechanical spectacle, is a kind of space-Spartacus and, more pretentious still, a shaggy God story." Eminent historian Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. deemed the film "morally pretentious, intellectually obscure and inordinately long ... a film out of control". It has been noted that its slow pacing often alienates modern audiences more than it did upon its initial release.

Academy Awards
2001 earned Stanley Kubrick an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects and various Oscar nominations. Anthony Masters was nominated for Best Art Direction; there were also nominations for Best Director (Kubrick), and Original Screenplay (Kubrick, Clarke). An honorary award was made to John Chambers in that year for his makeup work on Planet of the Apes, and Clarke reports that he "wondered, as loudly as possible, whether the judges had passed over 2001 because they thought we had used real ape-men...

Other awards
Won
BAFTA Awards:
Best Art Direction (Anthony Masters, Harry Lange and Ernest Archer)
Best Cinematography (Geoffrey Unsworth)
Best Road Show
Best Sound Track (Winston Ryder)
Cinema Writers Circle, Spain:
Best Foreign Film
David di Donatello Awards, Italy: 
Best Foreign Production (Stanley Kubrick)
Hugo Awards:
Best Dramatic Presentation
Kansas City Film Critics:
Best Director (Stanley Kubrick)
Best Picture
Laurel Awards:
Best Road Show
National Board of Review
Listed among the year's Top Ten Films
Nominated
BAFTA Awards:
Best Film (Stanley Kubrick)
UN Award (Stanley Kubrick)
Directors Guild of America (DGA): 
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures (Stanley Kubrick)
Laurel Awards:
Best Director
Moscow International Film Festival
Golden Prize (Stanley Kubrick)