15 Insane Movies That Shouldn't Have Worked
2. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
50 years later, Stanley Kubrick's sci-fi epic remains one of the most ambitious, visually breathtaking and unforgettable films ever made.
A slow, 150-minute art-house sci-fi with numerous extended sequences of visual majesty, complete with sparse dialogue and an ambiguous narrative, 2001: A Space Odyssey may seem "boring" to more casual audiences, but for those patient and open-minded enough, it is a staggeringly creative existential trip of a film.
A technical marvel that's aged unthinkably well, 2001 has had many imitators over the years, but not one has quite matched Kubrick's eerie, cool emotional disconnect, measured pacing and entrancing battery of images.
Though on paper it'd be easy to imagine such a singular, off-kilter vision bombing with audiences, the film has nevertheless grossed close to $200 million due to re-issues over the decades.