Opening Image

Earth is seen from space aligned with the sun and the moon. The sun is seen “rising” over the moon, marking the beginning of a new day.

Theme

This is the story of the evolution of mankind and how they have survived throughout the years of their existence. We’re taken back to a time when apes roamed the Earth and we learn how they spent their days. We see them eating scraps, fighting with other apes over water and hiding from leopards at night. They’re also seen among dinosaur bones and the bones of other apes, echoing the theme of survival.

Catalyst

The apes are awoken to a large black monolith having appeared before them. They’re confused and afraid of this unknown structure and attempt to interact with it by touching it’s smooth surface. We see a shot of the monolith aligned with the moon and sun, triggering the evolution of the apes.

Debate

When one of the apes finds itself near the bones of a dead animal, something is set in motion in its brain. It’s suddenly able to see the bone as a blunt weapon that can be wielded for its benefit. It’s then seen gaining the upper hand over the other apes when it uses the bone to defend its water source and to kill other animals for food. Thus, the first tool of man is created.

Break into Two

Now that the apes have made their first step towards evolution, we move on to the next act. Here we see three distinctive spaceships, each a reference to a tool of man. The first ship is a reference to the blunt weapon used by the apes, the second is a reference to the wheel (man’s first invention) and the third is a reference to a pen.

B Story

Right after we see the pen shaped spaceship, we cut to its interior wherein we see a pen hovering in zero gravity. This is a metaphor for how man has lost control of his tools in the pursuit of evolution. This will be elaborated upon further into the story.

Fun and Games

We follow Dr. Heywood Floyd who has arrived at a space station for an important meeting on the Clavius, a base on the moon. He is seen making a phone call to his daughter on her birthday and asking her what kind of present she would like.

Floyd then meets a few other scientists who are curious regarding what’s actually going on at the base, as they have restricted all ships from landing and have maintained zero contact with outside parties. Floyd says he is not at liberty to disclose any information, despite it concerning all of humanity, this can be seen as yet another obstacle humans needs to overcome.

He’s then taken to the base and we see air hostesses walking about in zero gravity with special boots, though they struggle a bit to do so. They’re also seen distributing liquid meals to the passengers and captains. All of which, signifies that humans are yet to master space as the tools that would enable them to do so haven’t been mastered yet.

While being aboard a moonbus, Floyd is seen eating a chicken sandwich which doesn’t contain actual meat, but tastes exactly like it (it’s safe to assume none of the other ingredients are Earth based produce either). This goes to show how much progress food has made as well.

On the moon’s surface, they find the monolith which has apparently been buried for millions of years. After interacting with it, it emits a strong radio signal. We again see the monolith aligned, but this time with the sun and earth.

Eighteen months later, its clear technology has taken another leap forward. The ship appears to be far more advanced, this time a scientist is seen jogging in zero gravity with ease (earlier the air hostess struggled to do so) and food is no longer restricted to the liquid state. The scientists are on a mission and their ship is maintained by HAL 9000, the most advanced computer ever made.

We see a news interview where the interviewer picks up hints of genuine emotions in HAL’s responses. If HAL, who is a creation of man can surpass humans, then it will no longer have to obey them.

One of the scientists, David Bowman receives a message from his parents on his birthday, similar to the one we saw earlier. This time the message being for an adult symbolizes growth. In the first conversation, they discussed birthday presents and this time around, they talk about David’s monthly income.

Dr. Frank Poole is seen losing a game of chess to HAL due to a simple error, making it clear that man’s inventions have outclassed them.

Midpoint

HAL asks David to show him his sketches, showing just how ahead of his time he is, if he can come to appreciate art. He then asks David if he’s having second thoughts about their mission as it was planned under unusual circumstances, establishing that there are aspects about the mission that certain humans aren’t aware of yet their creations are. Furthermore, the concerns HAL raises shows just how advanced he is and how humans are losing control over him.

Bad Guys Close In

They’re alerted about an issue in the antenna and on investigating, they find nothing wrong. They report this back to the team on Earth, who speculate the error may be from HAL’s side based on the conclusion made by their own HAL computer. Knowing that the HAL 9000s have no history of ever making an error, David wonders if HAL is deliberately trying to sabotage the mission. Meanwhile, HAL blames the error on the humans making it evident that he already sees them as inferior beings.

David and Frank enter a pod and plan to shut down HAL if things worsen, HAL finds out their plan by reading their lips. David does confess he has no idea how HAL may take their decision to shut him down, despite him being a machine they own.

Frank sets out to reinstall the faulty device, when HAL takes control over his pod and attacks him with it.

All is Lost

After David retrieves Frank’s body, he finds himself locked out of the ship by HAL, who tells him the mission they are one is too great and he cannot allow the humans to jeopardize it by making any errors. The mission is revealed to be investigating Jupiter, which is where the radio signal the monolith emitted pointed to. HAL, now being self aware is also seeking the path towards the next stage of evolution.

Dark Night of the Soul

David enters via the emergency hatch and makes his way to shut down HAL, who demands to know what he is up to by saying he’s entitled to an answer, forgetting who is the creator and who is the creation. When disabling HAL, he pleads with David to not do so and says he’s afraid, which is the last emotion he expresses.

Break into Three

Arriving at Jupiter unlocks the mission briefing message, the person on the message reveals that HAL was the only one on board to know of the mission before taking off. Having bested a “tool of man”, David now has full transparency of his mission and is now ready to evolve to the next stage.

Finale

The monolith is seen hovering near Jupiter and David follows it. He’s soon pulled into a vortex and is taken on a strange journey. He eventually finds himself in a bedroom having aged a few years. Soon we see him age further and further, until he finds himself on his deathbed, right before which we see him accidentally break a glass but it no longer matter as he’s ready to move fare beyond everything mankind has achieved thus far. The monolith appears before him and David reaches out for it. The next time we see David is in the form of a fetus enclosed in an orb of light.

Closing Image

Having completed the odyssey, David arrives outside the Earth. This time instead of the alignment between the sun, moon and Earth, we see a new link formed between Earth, the moon and David in his new form. Earlier in the film, the sun was always shown as a catalyst to trigger the monolith and with David now replacing the sun, it means he is the bridge that will guide humans to their next stage of evolution. Furthermore, David being a fetus means that humans still have numerous stages of advancements ahead of them.