The 2014 film **‘Interstellar’** by Christopher Nolan, despite being released 10 years ago, is still considered a well-made sci-fi film. The film's depiction of a black hole became a hot topic again around 2022. This is because the black hole, which was *first* captured **successfully** through the use of radio telescopes in human history, **resembled** the black hole in the film.

Imagination that has surpassed human technological capabilities often evokes such amazement. The 1968 film **‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ (2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968)** is another film that became a hot topic for similar reasons. 1968 was *still one year before* **humanity first landed on the moon**. However, the moon's surface depicted in the film was quite similar to what Neil Armstrong actually captured. Aside from the moon, various elements such as spaceships and Jupiter were **depicted so realistically that it is hard to believe** that it was a 1968 film.

Following this film, many young filmmakers at the time were influenced by it. The artificial intelligence **‘HAL 9000’ (A,k,a ‘Hal’)** featured in the film is *the archetype* **of many artificial intelligence characters that appeared later**. Hal, which is onboard the ‘Discovery’ spacecraft heading to Jupiter, plays chess with the crew and engages in personal conversations. However, at some point, he develops a self-awareness and *attempts to* **kill** Frank and Dave, the human crew members who doubt him. Frank is killed in space, but Dave hides in the data bank and deletes Hal's existence. As Hal is deleted, he mutters, **‘Dave, I'm afraid’**, acknowledging his mistake, before his existence is erased.

Many films have since featured beings similar to Hal. The villain *‘Ultron’* **from the 2015 film ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ is a 2015 version of Hal.** With a flat English accent, red eyes, and the artificial intelligence setting of killing humans who possess him, it is perfectly in line with the ‘Hal’ of 1968. A robot that imitates HAL9000 also appears in the 2014 film ‘Interstellar’.

Besides Hal, familiar scenes, **scenes that seem to have been seen somewhere before**, continue to appear throughout the film. The view of the ring-shaped spaceship rotating is an homage to ‘Interstellar,’ and the spaceship entering the space station is a direct homage to ‘Star Wars.’ The name of the spaceship heading to Jupiter, ‘Discovery,’ appears in the 2017 Netflix original ‘Star Trek Discovery’ as the ship that the protagonists board, and in the latter half of season 2, a scene that even imitates the actors' expressions appears.

Of course, **it is not easy for the general audience to enjoy this film**. When it was re-released in Korean theaters last summer, countless film fans purchased tickets. The theater located in Sinchon, Seoul, was packed. But surprisingly, after about 30 minutes, everyone *had fallen asleep*. The editing of the film is very slow, and if it was filmed in a modern style, it would have been a 90-minute film, not a 140-minute film. There are many scenes where a spaceship simply travels through vast space for several minutes without any dialogue or plot development.

However, for viewers who have seen a lot of films and TV series, this film is full of pleasant surprises. For 2 hours and 20 minutes, they will continuously have a **“Hey, that scene is an homage to that!”** reaction. Some people jokingly say that if you put together all the scenes that homage this film, you could make a whole movie. The most recently released blockbuster *‘Barbie’ (2023)* is so beloved by Hollywood directors that the film's opening is exactly the same as 2001: A Space Odyssey.