2010: The Year We Make Contact [Blu-ray]
by Peter Hyams
![2010: The Year We Make Contact [Blu-ray]](/images/2010-The-Year-We-Make-Contact-Blu-ray-B001993Y1S-L.jpg)
List Price:
Our Price: $8.54
You Save: $11.44 (57%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $7.99 (click here)
Category: Blu-ray
See more Blu-ray details
Buy this Blu-ray movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Blu-ray details
Actor: Bob Balaban, Helen Mirren, John Lithgow, Keir Dullea, Roy ScheiderDirector: Peter Hyams
Brand: Warner Brothers
Producer: Peter Hyams
Writer: Arthur C. Clarke
Blu-ray: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Italian (Subtitled); German (Subtitled); Portuguese (Subtitled); Dutch (Subtitled); Swedish (Subtitled); Norwegian (Subtitled); Danish (Subtitled); Finnish (Subtitled); English (Original Language); Spanish (Original Language); French (Original Language); Italian (Original Language); German (Original Language); Portuguese (Original Language)
Format: Color, NTSC
Picture Format: 2.40:1
Running Time: 116 minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: 2009-04-07
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product features:
- A new time, a new odyssey, a new chance to confront enigmas arising from the daring Jupiter mission of 2001. Crew members aboard the Leonov will rendezvous with the still-orbiting Discovery. And their fate will rest on the silicon shoulders of the computer they reawaken, HAL-9000. Based on Arthur C. Clarkes 2001: A Space Odyssey sequel, director Peter Hyams spellbinder nominated for 5 Academy Awar
Blu-ray Reviews of 2010: The Year We Make Contact [Blu-ray]
Blu-ray Review: Forced to be mediocre due to its legacy
Summary: 3 Stars
As a movie on its own, "2010" is a great one. The sort of movie I would watch, greatly enjoy, forget about for a few months, then maybe buy if it were on sale and consider it a great movie I would watch once in a while and recommend to friends.
As I said in my review for "2001", 2001: A Space Odyssey is an epic beyond the scope of any genre.
Unfortunately, "2010" is a sequel to this, and is a part of its storyline.
Because of this, "2010" is, and will always be, mediocre.
I was really thoroughly crushed and gaping at the screen in an almost disgusted disbelief during the squicky, saccharine soap-opera like scenes of Roy Scheider playing with his son on the beach. All I could think during these "Quintessentially 80s" scenes was "This is 2010... This is 2001: A Space Odyssey's continuing story... This is the man who flew to the moon and actually touched the TMA-1 Monolith... playing at the beach with his son set to a then-contemporary 80s soundtrack"
Starting with the bad,
- This movie is too much in the realm of ACCEPTING its own mediocrity. It does not attempt to match 2001 in any way. It doesn't try at all for Kubrick's style of "Show, Don't Tell" or any sort of artistic approach. The main spaceship, the Soviet "Leonov" is a dark, claustrophobic mess reminiscent of any of the ship landscapes in the "Alien" movies or Imperial cargo holds in "Star Wars" with wires dangling everywhere and random computer machinery stuffing it.
- While some of its CG attempts are admirable, they made some very clearly wrong choices, such as the scene with the Astronaut and Cosmonaut floating out in open space to reach the Discovery One---almost every shot of them against the black background is just a jarring jerk out of immersion, as you can very clearly see that the shadows and darkness on their space suits are amazingly bright compared to the pure blackness of the space behind them, and in some cases you can even see the green bleed-through of a Green Screen or something.
2001 didn't try as audacious space-walk attempts as this, but for the instances where it did have an astronaut in space, they were completely and totally THERE! It was perfectly seamless, perfect technology for a pre-CGI age.
As well, Jupiter in this movie looks not only completely different from the one in 2001, but looks HORRIBLE. It looks cartoonish. It looks like it was drawn for a 1970s cartoon.
- For my tastes, far too much time is spent on Earth where we clearly do not need to spend. An example is the overly long, laborious, and needlessly hostile conversation between the Russian ambassador and Dr. Floyd in the very beginning of the movie. The whole ocean-playing scenes as well seemed to me a total Red Herring, as it did nothing to establish Heywood Floyd's relationship with his son, and his relationship with his son played almost no role whatsoever in the movie.
- As well, the movie begins with a prologue that in my view, only reinforces the feeling of mediocrity of the film. It gives us a largely pointless "recap" of what happened in "2001", using still photos from the film that play off less like a "tying-in" from one movie to another, and more like an amateur fan-site's "study guide" to the most basic and bare-bones events and plot of the movie.
- Another HORRIBLE decision is to step back from Kubrick's genius decision of silence, and added SOUND IN SPAAAAAAAAACE! It's a huge detraction, not just comparing and considering "2001", but many of the sequences which are almost complete mirrors from 2001 (ex, a pod being released from Discovery One) or epic scenes like the end involving Jupiter.
- Keir Dullea returns as David Bowman, but I was slightly disappointed in that his role felt largely useless. He DID have two vital points in the film for brief exposition, but for the most part, he was little more than a cameo. What only made this worse is how during his conversation with Heywood Floyd, he randomly switches appearances from his last-known self (Regular Dave), to his three Older Selves (as seen in the final sequence of 2001), to one brief shot of him as the Starchild in which he (and I am not joking) WINKS at Floyd. WINKS. And that's it. One whole shot of THE ONLY THING ON THE COVER OF THE DVD/BLU-RAY, and all it does is WINK.
- Roy Scheider, to me, was a colossal disappointment as Heywood Floyd. Heywood Floyd was already established to me in "2001" as played by William Sylvester. Maybe he looked too old or he refused to sign on, or they didn't even bother, but Roy Scheider looks nothing like William Sylvester. Even worse, he doesn't even try to act like the Heywood Floyd established by William Sylvester.
William Sylvester's Heywood Floyd was a calm, bemused sort of gentleman. Roy Scheider's Heywood Floyd is pretty much an [...]. An amiable asshole, but an [...]nonetheless. He's got a slippery, sly, jerkish demeanor to him all throughout, joking at inappropriate moments, attempting to dominate crew members that don't answer to him, that sort of thing. He's a completely different character going by the same name.
- The soundtrack is largely 80s-style synthesizers, which rarely works in the scenes it is placed in.
- It's attempts to try to explain all the things that had occurred in the previous movie, and their future implications, often ranges from unnecessary to downright pathetic---like someone who didn't get the first movie at all trying to explain it all realistically (though still very soft sci-fi), all throughout the entire sequel.
- For the Blu-Ray release, they did not do a very good job with the transfer. I'd say it's better than a DVD transfer, but much of the special effects are still very fuzzy, soft, and scratchy, and a lot of times when faces are in view, the screen gets soft.
While that sounds like a lot, it is SHOCKINGLY not enough to render this movie total garbage.
The good:
- The story is still highly compelling. Likely the work of Arthur C. Clarke's original book.
- The relationship between Walter Curnow (John Lithgow) and Maxim Brajlovsky (Elya Baskin) was very quick and brisk in building up, and yet it still worked magnificently.
- The scanning of Europa's surface (without spoiling) was a very tense, edge-of-your-seat type thing for a science fiction fan like me.
- Douglas Rain as HAL9000 steals the show, as usual. The entire dilemma at the end of whether or not to tell HAL the truth is made all the more tense by HAL's unchangeable, unshaking monotone and childlike questioning.
- HAL9000's final scene and end is a tear jerker in itself. I still get teary-eyed remembering his question to Dr. Chandra ("Will I dream?")
- The end sequence involving Jupiter was fantastic, even for the special effects limitations, and the shots of scenes from Earth with two suns were realistic and gutwrenching.
- The final scene on Europa, with its music choice... a pure bit of "2001"'s style of cinema. Amazing and spellbinding and epic.
Whether you can accept it or not, "2010" is the sequel to "2001". Unfortunately, it is destined to mediocrity, and does not attempt to rise above that overall feeling throughout.
Description of 2010: The Year We Make Contact [Blu-ray]
2010:YEAR WE MAKE CONTACT - Blu-Ray MovieBestsellers in DVD
![The Story of Jeremiah [VHS] Image](/images/noimg.gif)
The Story of Jeremiah [VHS]Vision Video; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Wresting With God [VHS]by Vision Video
Vision Video; Published: 1990-10-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
Study Bible Video with Workbook [VHS]Spring Arbor Distributors; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $7.95
Price in other shops:
Tempo:Childrens TV Favourites Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $9.17
Price in other shops:
Tempo.Herbs:Parseley'Sb/ Party Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
![Strike the Original Match [VHS] Image](/images/Strike-the-Original-Match-VHS-0001374079-X.jpg)
Strike the Original Match [VHS]New Liberty Films; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
![Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS] Image](/images/Medjugorje-The-Miracles-and-the-Message-VHS-0001373293-X.jpg)
Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS]JPN Film Production; Release date: 1995-12-15; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $29.99
Mayo Clinic Echocardiography Review Course for Boards and Recertification DVD 2008by Mayo
DVD
Price in other shops:
Pediatric Diagnostic Imaging DVD: Single Userby Oakstone
DVD
Price in other shops:
Cost Accounting [VHS]by Charles T. Horngren, George Foster, Srikant M. Datar, Howard Teall
Pearson Canada, Toronto; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs
![The Arrival [Blu-ray] Image](/images/The-Arrival-Blu-ray-B001R10BIC-X.jpg)
The Arrival [Blu-ray]SHEEN,CHARLIE; Release date: 2009-04-21; Blu-ray
Best price: $6.57
Price in other shops:
Silent RunningMCA; Release date: 2002-05-21; DVD
Best price: $8.33
Price in other shops:
![Soylent Green [Blu-ray] Image](/images/Soylent-Green-Blu-ray-B00466HNG8-X.jpg)
Soylent Green [Blu-ray]WHV; Release date: 2011-03-29; Blu-ray
Best price: $8.99
Price in other shops:
![The Day the Earth Stood Still (Special Edition) [Blu-ray] Image](/images/The-Day-the-Earth-Stood-Still-Special-Edition-Blu-ray-B001G7PWYU-X.jpg)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (Special Edition) [Blu-ray]Fox; Release date: 2008-12-02; Blu-ray
Best price: $17.84
Price in other shops:
![Blade Runner (Five-Disc Complete Collector's Edition) [Blu-ray] Image](/images/Blade-Runner-Five-Disc-Complete-Collector-Edition-Blu-ray-B000UBMWG4-X.jpg)
Blade Runner (Five-Disc Complete Collector's Edition) [Blu-ray]Warner Brothers; Release date: 2007-12-18; Published: 2007-12-01; Blu-ray
Best price: $29.39
Price in other shops:
![Logan's Run [Blu-ray] Image](/images/Logan-Run-Blu-ray-B001JAFYFG-X.jpg)
Logan's Run [Blu-ray]Warner Brothers; Release date: 2009-11-10; Blu-ray
Best price: $7.92
Price in other shops:
![Forbidden Planet [Blu-ray] Image](/images/Forbidden-Planet-Blu-ray-B0019NB9A2-X.jpg)
Forbidden Planet [Blu-ray]WHV; Release date: 2010-09-07; Blu-ray
Best price: $7.75
Price in other shops:
![Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Two-Disc 30th Anniversary Ultimate Edition) [Blu-ray] Image](/images/Close-Encounters-of-the-Third-Kind-Two-Disc-30th-Anniversary-Ultimate-Edition-Blu-ray-B000VECACG-X.jpg)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Two-Disc 30th Anniversary Ultimate Edition) [Blu-ray]DREYFUSS,RICHARD; Release date: 2007-11-13; Published: 2007-11-01; Blu-ray
Best price: $12.98
Price in other shops:
![Contact [Blu-ray] Image](/images/Contact-Blu-ray-B001AQT0RC-X.jpg)
Contact [Blu-ray]Warner Brothers; Release date: 2009-10-06; Blu-ray
Best price: $7.11
Price in other shops:
![2001: A Space Odyssey [Blu-ray] Image](/images/2001-A-Space-Odyssey-Blu-ray-B000Q66J1M-X.jpg)
2001: A Space Odyssey [Blu-ray]Warner; Release date: 2007-10-23; Blu-ray
Best price: $9.25
Price in other shops: