The Best Movie Of Each Year From 1925-2025

58. 1968 - 2001: A Space Odyssey

Honourable Mentions: Once upon a Time in the West, Rosemary's Baby, The Swimmer

2001: A Space Odyssey is, ironically, a monolith of cinema - a piece of science fiction that pushed the genre to new philosophical and technical reaches and which remains a seminal effort from one of the 20th century's most fascinating and talented directors in Stanley Kubrick. It's also somewhat obstructive to newcomers, featuring a marathon, dialogue-less prologue that unfurls at a glacial pace before eventually arriving at its iconic and highly influential space-set sequences.

With that in mind, it's no surprise that 2001's reputation remained divisive for years before its strengths were widely recognised. It has of course since been absorbed into the pop culture lexicon through decades of affectionate homage and parody, with its masterpiece status firmly - and deservedly - established.

Is it Kubrick's greatest film? Perhaps not, but as a landmark in genre storytelling and technical innovation, 2001 is one of the greatest to ever do it.