2010 | | Cast : | Roy Scheider, John Lithgow | | Director : | Peter Hyams | | Studio : | Warner Studios | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned | | Released Date : | December 07, 1984 | | DVD Released Date : | October 05, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Original Language), French (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 04, 2005 | | Summary | BEWARE! PRODUCT IS MISREPRESENTED BY AMAZON!!!! | Content
 | The cover art shown is from the MGM-DVD edition which led me to believe I was ordering a new release with possibly an anamorphic widescreen aspec. What I received was the older Warner Bros edition which is letterboxed for 4:3 TV's. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 17, 2005 | | Summary | The Course of History Had Changed | Content
| Back in 1984 when "2010 The Year We Make Contact" was written by Arthur C. Clarke, no one predicted that the Soviet Union's days were numbered - and this was a year before Gorbachev came to power, before "Glastnost" and "Perestroika" that eventually led to the collapse of the USSR in 1991! The Cold War was still on and Europe was still divided by the Iron Curtain. In an interview around the time of the movie's release, Clarke explained that the purpose of his novel and later the movie, directed by Peter Hyams, was a tool to institute a better peace between the two superpowers, especially at the end when Hal sent a message targeted to Earth as instructed by astronaut Dave Bowman (Keir Dullea) that the two nations could co-exist in a better world, and by sharing the discoveries of our outer worlds.
Technology used in the movie was, of course, of early 1980s design (you could hear some Dot Matrix printers in a computer room when Heywood Floyd [Roy Scheider] was checking Discovery's orbit) and since then twenty-first century technology had improved drastically. Like "2001 A Space Odyssey" Richard Strauss' opening theme "Also Sprach Zarathustra" was also used at the beginning of this film. The tempo of Strauss' famous theme was a little too fast and a little too rich in instrumentation, especially where the music fades prior to the opening scene.
The graphic effects were excellent, especially when both cosmonaut Maxim Brajlovsky (Elya Baskin) and astronaut Walter Kurnow (John Lithgow) make the transfer from the Leonov to Discovery over Jupiter's innermost major satellite, Io, Discovery was orbiting on a crash course toward this violent, pizza-colored, volcanic moon. The scene where you see Io's surface far below Curnow's feet as he drifted above looked better on the movie screen. It would definitely look great in 3D or in HDTV. Unlike "2001" where there was silence in the space scenes (there is no sound in space), sound was added in the space scenes.
Scheider's role as Dr. Heywood Floyd was far different than the way William Sylvester portrayed the character in the original film where he was mild-mannered. In "2010" Dr. Floyd was more sarcastic and would engage in a spat or two with his Russian counterpart, Tanya Kirbuk (Helen Mirren). This was the way Scheider wanted to perform him anyway since that was more fitting to his criteria.
The movie, overall, is very good and one not worth missing.
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| Rating | | | Date | June 17, 2005 | | Summary | Very different than 2001, but still pretty good. | Content
| This is a good sequel to the classic sci-fi movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey. While it doesn't make the kind of impact its predecessor does, 2010 definitely scores some points in its own right. Solid plot. Solid story. Good special effects. As far as sequels go it achieves both consistency with the original while being in a different category than 2001.
Keep in mind, ladies and gentlemen, that this is NOT the same movie as 2001. This movie isn't a space opera with infinite attention to details and style. This is more of a straightforward space movie. Don't get me wrong. You get a good dose of atmosphere in 2010. It's just not the strong overdose of 2001. Above all it's a good tie in between movies, and the uber-mysterious monolith has even more of a focal point here.
Technically the movie is solid. The underlying events with the Russians date the movie, but the storyline isn't damaged by it. In fact it's a really nice story. It fills in most of the gaps and answers the questions the last movie left behind. Don't expect to know the secrets of the monolith by the way. Some things are better left a mystery. They picked good actors in this film, but I have a trouble with Roy Sheider as Dr. Floyd. Not because of Sheider's abilities, but because that part was originally played by William Sylvester and the two actors don't look alike. Not really that big a problem, but I'm a stickler for continuity.
The ships and tech are pretty impressive; especially the innovative way they conserve fuel. They do take some artistic license when it comes to gravity now and then, especially in one scene where there is gravity yet the pens are floating. Again that's just a minor detail. The coolest part about the movie is how it all comes together in the end. I can't say anything about it because it would ruin it for those of you who haven't seen it. But believe me, it's big.
As long as you don't put your expectations on 2010 to be just like 2001 you really enjoy this movie. It continues the story of our world in this alternate future and how the monolith fits into it. It's definitely more approachable to the masses than 2001 ever will be. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 14, 2005 | | Summary | disappointing film; substandard quality on widescreen TVs | Content
| 2010 is a message movie. The message: "War is bad. We should live together in peace. We should all treat each other with respect, regardless of our individual differences, and honesty is the best policy." In other words, it's rather lacking in depth and originality, but if you like that sort of Hollywood claptrap with a sizeable helping of melodrama, then the movie is agreeable enough.
The DVD has a 10-minute behind-the-scenes featurette. It might be mildly interesting to fans of the film, although it doesn't contain any insight that is likely to enhance your enjoyment of the film. If you don't particularly care for the film, the featurette is probably not worth ten minutes of your time.
The video transfer is nothing special, but you've probably seen worse.
The disc contains a "standard" version on one side, and a "widescreen" version on the other.
The widescreen version, unfortunately, does not live up to its claim of being "enhanced for widescreen TVs." It is, in fact, a 1.33:1 image that includes thick black letterbox bars to preserve the approximately 2.35:1 aspect ratio, so it has black bars on all four sides when displayed on a widescreen TV. Your DVD player or widescreen TV probably has a feature that allows you to magnify the image so that it fills the entire width of your TV screen, but this results in substandard video quality. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 12, 2005 | | Summary | good enough, not great | Content
| This is a fun film, which answers explicitely some of the questions that the original 2001 doesn't, such as the reason that HAL acted in the way he did. Alas, that means in a way that it destroys the mystery and ambiguity of 2001, and the answers pale in comparison that what I imagined about it all.
That being said, the drama is taut and the acting is very good. It just won't make it into the pantheon of great films that I keep in my mind.
Recommended as fun entertainment, but be careful of what it might take away if you liked 2001. |
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