Silence. This movie starts with complete silence. Slowly, very slowly the familiar strains of Thus Spake Zarathustra whirl in, dramatic bold music wired into our brains to be associated with space exploration. Then an eerily familiar voice comes out of nowhere:

My God, it's full of stars!.

As the sound winds in we view a summary mission report of the Discovery's voyage to Jupiter. This serves as needed background information for anyone who hasn't seen or read 2001.

I must admit the first time I saw this movie I fit into that category. I'm not sure why I hadn't read the book, as I was already in my heavy sci-fi days, but I hadn't. As for the movie, well I didn't have the opportunity. It was 1984, a time when VCRs were only just starting to appear in houses and were not yet common, a time when it was difficult to see older movies unless you happened to hit a theatrical re-release or find some private organization that rented the reels for a fundraiser or other showing. I know this is hard for many of the folks younger than I am to grasp, but there really was a time when people saw whatever movies the three network television channels and local movie theater with a single screen chose to show them. Those were the only options. And I'm not even that old (stop snickering). To help put it in perspective, my family had only just gotten its very first color television the year before this movie came out.

I have since read 2001: A Space Odyssey and seen the movie version as well. I enjoyed both, but perhaps because I saw this first the two aren't very connected in my mind. Yes, some characters are the same. The activity in 2010 is a direct result of what happened in 2001. But I don't have this incredible need to compare the two movies. If you are looking for a long treatise on the similarity and differences between the movies, or a long rant on how terrible 2010 is because it isn't 2001, do not look here. If you want to know my take on 2010 as a movie, mostly independent of its predecessor, read on.

The Basic Plot

The Discovery has been happily orbiting Io for 9 years when suddenly its orbit starts to decay. Blaming himself for the failure of the Discovery's mission, Dr. Heywood Floyd lobbies to join a Russian mission to investigate Jupiter and its moons. Floyd and two other Americans join the mission despite tensions between the US and USSR. As they near Jupiter war is brewing between the two countries back on Earth, causing tension between the different folks on the spaceship. What do they discover about the Discovery and Jupiter? Does war erupt? Can the Americans and Russians in space get along? How does it all end? You'll have to watch the movie to find out.

Look and Feel

If you are expecting special effects on the scale of today's space war blockbusters you will be sorely disappointed. But 2010 has absolutely breathtaking shots of Jupiter, its moons, and geometrically interesting space ships in silhouette in front of beautiful spacescapes. I could happily freeze the movie and just stare at some of the images, soaking them in. In fact, I did just that one or two times during today's viewing. The music during some of these snapshot shots is breathtaking as well, adding to the grandeur of the moments.

The interior of the spaceships are well designed but not spectacular. They are jam packed with control panels, bright lights, monitors, and computers circa early 80's. It's really the computer terminals that date the movie more than anything else. Old monochromatic green text monitors with large overhangs abound. Everything else was futuristic guess work on the part of the set designers, and they did a reasonable job. My one complaint was that some of the props used English and not Russian including the keyboards.

The end sequence was particularly visually stunning, a sequence that still takes my breath away. I'm not going tell you much about it in case you have yet to see the movie, but I feel the last 10-15 minutes alone are well worth taking the time to watch the movie.

The Characters and Actors

I must admit my favorite character is Hal 9000, the computer on the Discovery also featured in 2001. For a disembodied voice (Douglas Rain), Hal carried a lot of emotion and I really felt like he understood what was happening, what was being asked of him at all times, and that he was sentient being with his own thoughts and feelings. That's quite an accomplishment for a bucket of bolts.

Dr. Heywood Floyd is a man both obsessed with finding out what happened to the men he sent out to Jupiter on the Discover and frustrated with the sillines of political issues. He often acts as the voice of reason on the mission. Roy Scheider plays Floyd with believable intensity and straighforwardness. I am not a huge fan of Scheider, but he did an excellent job here.

John Lithgow is one of my favorite actors and he didn't disappoint in this movie. He plays Walter Curnow, the engineer brought along to fix Discovery if possible. He isn't an astronaut, and my favorite scene in the movie is when he gets his first real glimpse and feel of space.

Max (Elya Baskin), the brave, joking Russian eager to learn English was my favorite of the Russians. He strikes up an immediate friendship with Curnow as together they venture to the Discovery.

Helen Mirren plays the Russian captain Tanya Kirbuk. Her character is at times cold and very businesslike. Being in charge is never easy. Over time she develops a friendship with Floyd, but it's clear that duty of paramount importance to Kirbuk. Mirren is so good that I had no idea that she wasn't a Russian (the other Russian cosmonauts are all played by Russian actors). Of course now I recognize Mirren but even so her accent and mannerisms are perfect and I forget she isn't Russian.

The only characters I had any real problems with were Floyd's wife and son. They seemed mostly superfluous, there just to be there. They have little screen time and don't really affect the movie much. Floyd did write letters home but they didn't need to be anything more than "the wife" and "the son" for that to be an effective story element. I think it would have been better to have them be spoken of but not seen, as was Kirbuk's family.

DVD Extras

The DVD doesn't have many extras. It does have subtitles in English, French, and Spanish and a French language track. The one really interesting extra is a short film about the movie filmed in 1984. Opening with Arthur C. Clarke talking about the movie and showing some of the tricks used for the special effects, the documentary was quite interesting.

The main reason to get the DVD version of this movie is for the greatly improved picture quality. As mentioned above, parts of this movie are visually stunning, even more so with the exceptional picture quality provided by the DVD.

Final Thoughts

I really enjoy 2010: The Year We Make Contact. It's great eye candy that just happens to have a decent plot thrown in too. Don't watch it with the mentality that it's going to be just like 2001: A Space Odyssey and I bet you'll enjoy it too.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up Ages 8