Stanley Kubrick took science fiction cinema in a grandly intelligent new direction with in this enigmatic adaptation of a short story by revered sci-fi author Arthur C. Clarke. When Dr. Dave Bowman (Keir Dullea) and other astronauts are sent on a mysterious mission, their ship's computer system, HAL, begins to display increasingly strange behavior, leading to a tense showdown between man and machine that results in a mind-bending trek through space and time. 2001: A Space Odyssey stands alone in its scientifically accurate depiction of space flight, pioneering special effects, and ambiguous imagery.