2001: A Space Odyssey [4K Ultra HD] [1968] [Blu-ray] [2023] [Region Free]

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Giving home theater enthusiasts an awesome collection of demo-worthy scenery, the movie continuously shows inky, opulent blacks throughout, showing distinct gradational differences between the various shades and articles of clothing. And dodgy push-button computers and CRT's will always grate these days if we don't understand the film's technological context (although plenty of them in Alien I seem to remember). Dullea had been a fan of Kubrick since his drama school days when he witnessed the anti-war film “Paths of Glory” (1957), starring Kirk Douglas. Kubrick decided early on that he wanted the film to be a primarily non-verbal experience, and the result is an eerily quiet film. It's curious how all my favourite things - books, music, films, were discovered when I was age 15 or 16.

That we do not have HAL-like intelligent machines is if anything, even more surprising than the way the promise of space-travel fizzled out. This, brilliantly, is a 25-minute documentary filmed way back in 1967, talking about the future of space exploration against a context of Stanley Kubrick’s (then upcoming) film. The first section, “The Dawn of Man,” begins on a desert landscape in Africa, as group of primates struggles to survive.To be honest, in my experience, this scan of 2001 and that of Blade Runner are two of the best reasons to go 4K. The stark contrast between glowing human-made space stations and vehicles and the blackness of space, notably lacking overly-twinkling stars because 2001 aimed for scientific accuracy as much as possible.

This is passable as a look back at the time the film was made and features some interesting elements on the special effects, plus lots of on-set anecdotes. With subsequent viewings and exposure to the more demanding but wonderful Russian movie, Solaris, I came to realise that the significance of this section was a depiction of an encounter between humanity and something way beyond it's comprehension, and that such an encounter might not be describable in terms of any conventional narrative. Even the Dawn of Man sequences (which have proved challenging for other releases of the film) look remarkably realistic and ‘new’ thanks to the way the 4K Blu-ray’s extra brightness makes the bright skies and sun-drenched landscapes look far more vivid and natural. Inside your ‘Logic Memory Center’ is a selection of high-quality film-still postcards, like the lobby ones you can pick up these days but nicer, and an exclusively numbered crystal-display plaque, which has a nice physical weight to it.

Vision Of A Future Passed is another 20-minute featurette, featuring interviews with the same high-profile film industry people as the previous one. According to Warner Bros, the original 70mm camera negatives were given a true remaster and restoration, requiring little cleanup or digital wizardry, and from the looks of things, the elements appear to be in superb mint condition. And that’s despite the fact that the then-future shown in 2001: A Space Odyssey hasn’t exactly turned out as expected.