2010: The Year We Make Contact

Starring:Roy Scheider, John Lithgow, Helen Mirren, Bob Balaban, Keir Dullea, Douglas Rain, Madolyn Smith Osborne, Dana Elcar, Taliesin Jaffe, James McEachin, Mary Jo Deschanel, Elya Baskin, Saveli Kramarov, Oleg Rudnik, Natasha Shneider, Vladimir Skomarovsky, Victor Steinbach, Jan Triska, Larry Carroll, Herta Ware
Director: Peter Hyams
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

No director could ever have hoped to repeat the artistic achievement of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, and nobody knew that better than Peter Hyams, who made this much more conventional film from the first of three sequel novels by Arthur C. Clarke. Whereas Kubrick made a poetic film of mind-expanding ideas and metaphysical mysteries, Hyams shouldn't be blamed for taking a more practical, crowd-pleasing approach. In revealing much of what Kubrick deliberately left unexplained, 2010 lacks the enigmatic awe of its predecessor, but it's still a riveting tale of space exploration and extraterrestrial contact, beginning when a joint American-Soviet mission embarks to determine the cause of failure of the derelict spaceship Discovery. Having arrived at Discovery near the planet Jupiter, the American mission leader (Roy Scheider) and his Russian counterpart (Helen Mirren) must investigate the apparent failure of the ship's infamous onboard computer, HAL 9000, as well as the meaning of countless mysterious black monoliths amassing on Jupiter's surface (an interpretation Kubrick originally left up to his viewers). Meanwhile, Earth is on the brink of nuclear war, and an apparition of astronaut David Bowman (Keir Dullea) appears to repeatedly promise that "something wonderful" is about to happen. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

Decent but Clunky Move with No Sense of Wonder.......2007-06-18

First off, the original movie 2001 is in a league of it's own, and few movies can or will ever acheive it's lofty heights.

Having said that, 2010 is a decent movie in the vein of "Alien" or a standard Star Trek movie, but it comes off as very 'clunky' and does nothing to stir our imagination. One reviewer said it plays like a TV-movie, and they're absolutely right. Something about it just seems "off", with abrupt scene cuts, scenes that go nowhere and just end, and absolutely no sense of wonderment or excitement.

The editing is infuriating too. We're jarringly thrown from one scene to another with absolutely no attempt at a smooth transition. One example that dove me nuts - they'll show the monolith floating by Jupiter with the great music playing, then cut to inside the ship with no music, then back outside with music, then inside with no music, etc. Talk about clunky - it gets pretty damn annoying after a while.

The narration by Roy Schieder makes you think you're watching "SeaQuest" and is a bit of overkill as this movie just has to explain EVERYTHING. This movie tells you exactly what's happening before, during and after it has happened, which dilutes any or all excitement. You can definitely check your brain at the door for this one, because it doesn't require you to think about anything - it's all table-spoon fed to you constantly during the film, and that becomes annoying as well.

And there is absolutely no sense of awe or wonder in this film. I do think it's a good Arthur Clarke story, and his stories usually end with Man or another race ascending to a higher plane of existence, and the ending here is similarly along that vein.

It was nice, however, to see Keir Dullea and hear Hal again and to re-visit some of those sets.

Another nitpick - they got the read-out screens wrong in the Discovery. In the scene in the pilot's chair of the Discovery, when they show Hal's eye flanked by the screens, you can see that they used simple CRT screens instead of the flat screens used in 2001. Because there is so much glare on the CRTs, the read-outs don't pop out brightly like they did in the first film. Again, everything just seeme a little 'off' in this film. And the awesome Centrifuge set is nowhere to be seen.

All in all, it's a decent, clunky, un-exciting journey, worth a look or two but destined to collect dust in your DVD collection. By contrast, how many times have you seen 2001?

A Sci-Fi Classic That Deserves More Respect Than It's Gotten.......2007-06-03

True, this movie could never compare to Kubrick's "2001," but I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing. Perhaps it's because I was in high school when "2010" came out, but I relate a lot more to the sequel than the original, which I think could have shed the beginning and final acts and still been a coherent movie.

As a stand-alone movie, it's one of the more thoughtful sci-fi films I've ever seen, and the performances are quite good, especially Dame Helen Mirren and John Lithgow. And the vidual effects...Richard Edlund does a sublime job of following in Douglas Trumbull's footsteps.

The only fault I found with the film, and this is mainly in retrospect, is Peter Hyams' choice to have the US and Russia at loggerheads, considering that no such conflict existed in either the books of "2001" and "2010," nor in the film version of "2001." It dates the film somewhat, but it's still a good movie.

Unfortunately, the same can't be said for the transfer. "2010" has never had a decent transfer to video, and the DVD version is about as bad as it gets. Surely a better print exists of this film, and while the sound doesn't have the same "shuddering" quality the earliest VHS release had, it's still sub-par.

Hopefully either Warner or MGM will remaster this film for HD-DVD and/or Blu-Ray.

Good sequel Hal.......2007-03-19

2010 is a good sequel to 2001. 2001 is better but the way the Russians Americans and Hal work together makes a good point. Visually 2010 is close at times but not breathtaking. 2010 has elements 2001 didnt have that make it an interesting watchable sequel.

I think 1 star is to much........2007-03-06

If you a going to buy this movie because you saw 2001(best movie ever) and want to find out about the story more. Or just want somthing that will give you the same feeling when you watched 2001. Dont buy this please dont its not good at all. And if you love 2001 like I do then just skip this it wont help out on understanding anything.

Great follow up.......2007-02-14

Faster paced, more thrilling, great acting, yes it is not Kubrick, but it was and is a great movie as sequels go!

Average customer rating:

Decent but Clunky Move with No Sense of Wonder
A Sci-Fi Classic That Deserves More Respect Than It's Gotten
Good sequel Hal
I think 1 star is to much.
Great follow up

2010: The Year We Make Contact
Starring: Roy Scheider , John Lithgow , Helen Mirren , Bob Balaban , and Keir Dullea
Director: Peter Hyams
Manufacturer: MGM (Warner)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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