- Actors: Roy Scheider, John Lithgow, Helen Mirren, Bob Balaban, Keir Dullea
- Directors: Peter Hyams
- Writers: Peter Hyams, Arthur C. Clarke
- Producers: Peter Hyams, Jonathan A. Zimbert, Neil A. Machlis
- Format: Closed-captioned, Colour, DVD-Video, Letterboxed, NTSC
- Language English
- Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
- Region: Region 1 (US and Canada DVD formats.)
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9 - 2.35:1
- Number of discs: 1
- Classification: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) (US MPAA rating. See details.)
- Studio: Warner Home Video
- DVD Release Date: 19 Sep 2000
- Run Time: 116 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B00004VVN8
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 137,323 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)
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Reviews
Amazon.co.uk Review
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 repeatedly to promise that "something wonderful" is about to happen. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
36 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
From out of 2001's shadow comes a brilliant, but very different, sci-fi film,
By Mr. Stuart Bruce "DonQuibeats" (Cardiff, UK) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: 2010: The Year We Make Contact [DVD] [1984] (DVD)
2010 is a very, very different film from 2001: A Space Odyssey. In 2001, the first twenty minutes are completely devoid of dialogue; in 2010, the first twenty minutes are packed full of dialogue that attempt to explain, from the perspective of the people back on Earth, what happened to the Discovery mission nine years earlier. The stage is set for another trek to Jupiter- this time frought with danger (aerobraking around Jupiter, encountering strange readings from Jupiter's moons) instead of 2001's sedate ballet.
So 2010 gets maligned, I think, for being so utterly different from 2001, and for not having the kudos of Stanley Kubrick attached. However I think that's unfair. The special effects were no less stunning (but by 1984 cinema audiences were used to spaceships, more so than by the 1968 original). The mystery is unravelled neatly, with some good performances, especially John Lithgow and Bob Balaban. The drama's handled extremely well, with an occasional flash of humour. It still has Arthur C Clarke's novel firmly at its root, so as a science fiction story, it's a brilliant one. In some ways it's very dated- the not-so-cold war between Russia and the US couldn't now happen in the way it unfolds in this film- but putting some of that aside, it is a really good sci-fi film that manages to both suffer and benefit from being in 2001's shadow. Definitely worth a look, especially at Amazon's current bargain price. This DVD has no extras, which is a shame.
17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Blu-Ray Picture Quality Fine!!!,
By
This review is from: 2010 - The Year We Make Contact [Blu-ray] [1984][Region Free] (Blu-ray)
I'm not reviewing the film here. A 26 year old sci-fi sequel is not going to gain many (if any) new fans on blu-ray. This is one for original fans. However, if you've never seen it, it's well worth watching along with 2001.
No, this review is in defence of the blu-ray picture quality. Several other reviewers have complained about the picture quality on this disc, saying that it is grainy, blurry, worse than their DVD's, and doing the interior sets a disservice. THEY ARE SO WRONG!!! I don't understand what they are complaining about! This is not a modern movie shot on hi-def digital cameras with digital special effects, able to produce a crystal clear picture when transferred to blu-ray. This is now a 26 year old film shot on celluloid film stocks of varying speed with varying grain due to variable light conditions, with a mixture of optical effects and very early digital effects. The print used for the conversion appears to have been cleaned very well, with very few visible dirt or dust marks popping up to distract the viewer. The HD scan of the print has been done well, being sharp and in focus the whole time (subject to focussing flaws of the original film). This film could not have been reproduced better without an expensive remastering process happening, such as with Bladerunner, which is never going to happen. Anyone who thinks that this 16:9 anamorphic HD 1080p Blu-Ray is no better than the previous version (i.e. the fuzzy 4:3 letterboxed DVD) must be suffering serious brain damage! The film has never looked better at home! What does let the disc down is simply the minimal extras, comprising of a brief 9 minute original behind-the-scenes featurette and the trailer, both of which are in standard definition and have not been cleaned up. Some sort of retrospective feature and/or commentary would have been a nice extra, but is sadly missed (as are of course the late Arthur C Clarke and Roy Scheider).
41 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful film, but disappointing Blu-ray,
By
This review is from: 2010 - The Year We Make Contact [Blu-ray] [1984][Region Free] (Blu-ray)
Now, I won't use this review to justify the many virtues of 2010. It's a fine film. Is it the masterpiece of the film art that 2001 is? No. Is it more coherent, better structured and more accessible for regular film fans? Yes. It's got really wonderful performances from everyone involved, from Scheider, Mirren, Lithgow and Balaban down through the supporting actors. It also has some excellent visual effects (including some of the earliest CGI) and stunning cinematography. Peter Hyams was never given the credit he was due for 2010, although I did read a nice interview from Arthur C Clarke himself, who thought it was a fine film.
Anyway, if you already like the film, you probably know what I mean. Right, the Blu-ray. It's disappointing. Is it higher definition than the lousy DVD? Yes, by a mile. But it's grainy, and sometimes fuzzy. Now, I can't say for sure whether this is because the source material for the HD transfer hasn't been restored very well or simply that the original image was inconsistent in clarity. I know it's possible to reprocess a 35mm image and achieve a picture that's actually superior to current HD cameras, like Blade Runner's lovely Final Cut Blu-ray or Baraka, but it costs a fortune and very, very few films will be restored to that level. Given these budgetary limitations, and knowing the quality of cinematography on 2010 is so high, I'm inclined to think this is simply a matter of a poor HD transfer. That makes it all the more disappointing, really, because this beautiful film is just not getting the treatment it deserves because of commercial factors. The sound mix fine and clear, although nothing spectacular. I didn't get the bass in some scenes that I was expecting, but I do know that a great deal of the score is light on bass anyway, so that's not a fault with the sound mix. The extras are, as expected, virtually nil. There's the same vintage featurette that was on the DVD, and the trailier. Nothing else. The featurette isn't even the entire documentary that was produced at the time, which I remember distinctly being shown on TV years ago. That was an hour long, this featurette is under 10 minutes, although it's still nice to see. Again, I would rate this film 5 stars any day, but this Blu-ray is not good enough for the film or its fans.
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