2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984)

Director: Peter Hyams
Starring: Roy Scheider, John Lithgow, Helen Mirren

Synopsis:
Amid growing tensions on the world stage, a joint US-Soviet expedition to Jupiter is launched to uncover the truth behind what happened to the Discovery.

Impressions:
2001: A Space Odyssey is hailed as a masterpiece. While I can appreciate the achievement the film represents, I've never really liked it. I didn't like it when I saw it over 20 years ago and I didn't really like it when I gave it another shot a few years ago (an opinion that didn't change much with an even more recent viewing for review purposes). I'd seen a bit of 2010 a number of years back and liked that it was making a little more sense than its predecessor. I continue to like that aspect of it. Call me a Philistine or a simpleton if you will, but 2001 was deliberately obtuse and I'm not going to pander to auteur pretensions to make myself look smarter and more sophisticated. If 2001 left you scratching your head, this movie does a good job of clearing up some of what happened. Roy Scheider is quite good in the lead role as Dr. Heywood Floyd and John Lithgow hams it up nicely as Dr. Curnow. I also liked Helen Mirren as Tanya Kirbuk. While this movie couldn't possibly grasp at its predecessor's iconic status, it's a solid film even without taking 2001 into consideration. It's worth a watch.

Rating:
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