2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984)

Unfairly maligned

"2010: The Year We Make Contact" gets a bad rap primarily because it's not "2001: A Space Odyssey." No matter what they would have filmed, the movie would have been dismissed out of hand by most people. I think it's a fine film, though. I know that I'll get hammered for this, but I enjoyed it more than I did "2001." The Kubrick film was indisputably beautiful, but I found it to be dramatically inert. I was mesmerized by the imagery but I didn't care about the characters or the story (and the "acid trip" at the end went on for far too long). "2010," by contrast, isn't as beautiful. The utilitarian nature of the space craft design is carried over to the storytelling style as well. Peter Hyams, the director, sacrifices the perfectly composed shots that Kubrick created in deference to keeping the story moving.

In the end it all comes down to whether you prefer poetry or prose. I like prose. I prefer forward momentum to stasis. "2010" doesn't have the sense of wonder that "2001" does, but it's populated with characters and a narrative that you can become emotionally invested in.

A NOTE ABOUT THE DVD: As much as I like the film itself, the DVD is just okay. The transfer is substandard (non-anamorphic) and pretty bare bones. Rumor has it that there will be a special edition DVD in the year 2010. One can hope. November 10, 2008

Superb follow-up to the first

I found 2010 much easier to follow, largely due to the fact it had a conventional story line rather than seemingly random scenes that made little sense like its predecessor (a movie I appreciate, but still find somewhat confusing). The acting is superb and the plot makes complete sense. In the end, one actually feels attached and sympathetic to Discovery. If you liked the first, this will probably seem less stellar; but if you found the first thought-provoking, albeit confusing, then this movie will help you understand its predecessor substantially. August 11, 2008

2010 The Year We Make Contact

2010 is a wonderful continuation of 2001. It is well acted and has plenty of technical reality straight from NASA for its day. There are no science fictions that come as close to real weightless space travel then 2001 and 2010. These two highest quality movies show the positive ingenuity that ambitious mankind can create and dream about from childhood.

A quality science fiction movie is NOT one that relies on violence of sex to sell the movie. Filling time with violence is the lazy way to fill time in a movie and dash the hopes of young children. We need more quality movies such as 2001 and 2010 in which our humans ingenuity and dreams come true.

Since 2010 is a timeless classic, 2010 MUST be rendered into High Definition with the upmost care for detail of picture quality.

2010 explains the odd behavior of HAL9000 in 2001. Hal was forced into acts of death by directive of the White house, due to White house folks who would not share information to the public but placed the top secret into HAL's memory and directed HAL to protect it's release at all costs. An intelligent being like HAL would constantly dig at such locked code and be suspicious (just as NORTON virus protection is today). This locked code is the same as we would describe today as a computer virus and a virus is very hard to get rid of.

I look forward to the HD release!
July 9, 2008

"Something wonderful!"

This movie came out during Reagan's reign, when the Cold War was still running pretty hot. The race to Jupiter, to the abandoned Discovery craft from 2001, turns into another expression of that strange time. Political rivals are forced into close but uneasy cooperation, and the joint mission turns into an friendship that neither side would admit to. When the Earthly saber-rattling becomes loud enough to hear all the way out at Jupiter, the two parties are ordered to separate. Then, as promised, something wonderful happens - but the kind of "wonderful" best appreciated from a few million miles away.

That's where Clarke's newscaster style of storytelling really works best. Fantastic engineering feats under near-impossible conditions, natural grandeur, and world-shaking cataclysms don't need a lot of shouting and exclamation points. Clarke's story and Hyam's direction let the inherent drama speak for itself.

Even though it's almost a quarter century old at this writing, it's held up well. Only the most jaded of effects-fans could fault the presentation, and the optimistic ending combines the right mix of explanation and mystery. You won't find chases and explosions here - well, not exactly - just a good story and an enjoyable movie.

-- wiredweird May 30, 2008

2010: Space Farce?

I thought this was a silly movie. I don't know what I thought I was expecting... but while 2001 made sense, 2010 didn't seem to do that. May 15, 2008

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