2010: The Year We Make Contact

UPC: 883929051069

Studio: Warner Home Video

MPAA Rating: PG   Contains:null

Summary: This belated sequel to Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) is directed by Peter Hyams. Roy Scheider plays the astronaut/skipper of a U.S.-Soviet space mission, sent to find out what happened to the missing Discovery flight that carried Keir Dullea into the beyond in the original 2001. Scheider's polyglot crew includes Americans John Lithgow and Bob Balaban (the latter a computer whiz, responsible for the notorious HAL 9000) and Russians Helen Mirren, Elya Baskin and Natasha Schneider. The reason for this international mixture is that the world is on the brink of nuclear war, and it is hoped that the space mission will assure east-west solidarity (in this respect, 2010 dates far more than 2001, given the collapse of the Iron Curtain). When the astronauts catch up with Dullea, still in orbit around Jupiter, producer/director/writer Hyams attempts to demystify the enigmatic climax of 2001. Arthur C. Clarke, author of the story upon which 2001 was based, appears in 2010 as a man on a park bench. Incidentally, the voice-over credited to Olga Mallsnerd is actually Candice Bergen. (The name Mallsnerd is a play on the name of one of the characters created by her ventriloquist father Edgar.) ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Category: Science Fiction

Awards: Best Art Direction – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Art Direction – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Costume Design – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Makeup – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Sound – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Sound – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Sound – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Sound – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Visual Effects – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Visual Effects – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Visual Effects – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Visual Effects – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Features: Vintage featurette 2010: The Odyssey Continues
Theatrical trailer

2010: The Year We Make Contact

Format: Blu-ray

Release Date: 04/07/2009

Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 2.40:1

Audio: DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1, DTHD null, DD2 Dolby Digital Stereo

Runtime: 116 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,French,Spanish,German,Portuguese

Subtitles: English,French,Spanish,German

Nathan Southern

Peter Hyams wrote and directed this financially successful but hugely disappointing sequel to Stanley Kubrick's 1968 sci-fi masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey, that revisits many of the mysteries introduced by that earlier picture. The story concerns a group of astronauts played by Roy Scheider, John Lithgow, Helen Mirren and others, who travel to Jupiter to learn what became of interstellar voyager Dave Bowman, the spaceship Discovery, and the computer HAL 9000. The combination of the central premise and the movie's star power sounds tantalizing enough that it isn't difficult to see why MGM/UA greenlit the project. Though creating any sequel to 2001 means setting the bar exceptionally high, 2010 falls far shorter than one might expect. The delight of the Kubrick film lay in its enigmatic qualities - the cosmic riddles that it outlined but never solved. In attacking this sequel, some critics have accused Hyams of deflating Kubrick's mysteries. This isn't exactly true - we never learn the origins of 2001's monoliths, for example, or the true nature of the embryonic Star Child. What we get, instead, is in many ways far more upsetting: a series of constant promises that "something wonderful is going to happen" and then an idiotic conclusion that desecrates the movie - and that seems ripped-off from the denouement of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Even more unfortunate is the fact that Hyams avoids creating the sort of timeless science fiction parable that he could have constructed, and instead ties the picture's conclusion to mid-1980s Cold War tropes and ideologies - which makes the film feel hopelessly dated. To its credit, 2010 does contain some excellent performances by its three leads. It also benefits from excellent special effects (created by Dick Edlund) that outstrip the original. From scene to scene, Edlund and Hyams skillfully bring off the haunting vastness of space, and a few sights here (such as the out-of-control Discovery, spinning frenetically on its central axis above Jupiter, and a bizarre aberration that eventually forms on that planet's surface) are chilling to behold. But why the decision to almost completely omit the Star Child from the drama? For two hours, promised by the film's posters, we wait for that magnificent being to materialize - rounding the bend of one of the planets or suddenly manifesting itself as a colossal entity in space. But that never happens; instead, it only appears for a couple of seconds as a tiny apparition in one of the spaceships. Lame. Fans of the original picture who haven't seen this dud are strongly advised to avoid it altogether; it's a senseless waste of time and effort from all concerned. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Larry Carroll  Actor 
Delana Michaels  Actor 
Cheryl Carter  Actor 
Penny Perry  Actor 
Ron Recasner  Actor 
Candice Bergen  Actor 
Robert Lesser  Actor 
Natasha Schneider  Actor 
Peter Hyams  Director 
Peter Hyams  Producer 
Peter Hyams  Screenwriter 
Julia Phillips  Producer 
David Shire  Composer (Music Score) 
Roy Scheider  Actor 
John Lithgow  Actor 
Helen Mirren  Actor 
Bob Balaban  Actor 
Keir Dullea  Actor 
Douglas Rain  Actor 
Madolyn Smith  Actor 
Dana Elcar  Actor 
Taliesin Jaffe  Actor 
James McEachin  Actor 
Mary Jo Deschanel  Actor 
Elya Baskin  Actor 
Savely Kramarov  Actor 
Oleg Rudnick  Actor 
Vladimir Skomarovsky  Actor 
Victor Steinbach  Actor 
Jan Triska  Actor 
Herta Ware  Actor 
Arthur C. Clarke  Actor 

Country: USA