2010: THE YEAR WE MAKE CONTACT - Blu-ray review

"My god, it's full of stars."

"Jupiter Mission Analysis:
Reason for malfunction of HAL 9000...Unknown.
Meaning of last Bowman transmission...Unknown.
Location of Bowman...Unknown (presumed dead).
Composition of second monolith...Unknown.
Position of second monolith...Lagrange Point between Jupiter and Io.
Condition of U.S.S. Discovery...Orbit around Io.
End of mission report filed by: Heywood Floyd...Chairman, National Council of Astronomics, December 9, 2001."

You'll remember that Stanley Kubrick's 1968 sci-fi classic "2001: A Space Odyssey" left the viewer with any number of questions to ponder, which was part of the movie's appeal. Dr. Floyd's final mission report, quoted above, acknowledged just a few of them. In writer-director Peter Hyams' follow-up movie, 1984's "2010: The Year We Make Contact," Hyams and the first film's original co-author, Arthur C. Clarke, attempt to answer the questions. "2010," based on Clarke's second book in a series, is a respectable attempt to follow up on the spectacular success of "2001," and if it doesn't fully succeed, well, just consider what it had to live up to.

As it stands, director Peter Hyams created in "2010" a good, well-made, tightly-knit, nicely-acted science-fiction sequel, yet one that clearly lacks the vision and scope of its illustrious predecessor. Where "2001" had been all about imagery, "2010" is all about plot. Be that as it may, however, "2010" might be a more appealing proposition than "2001" for some viewers. The sequel has a more conventional story line, a greater reliance on character relationships, and more matter-of-fact explanations for otherworldly phenomena, which could make it more accessible than "2001," which relied almost exclusively on images and sound to sustain its ideas. Looked at another way, "2010" is a good piece of entertainment, while "2001" is a persuasive work of art.

"2010" begins nine years after the spaceship U.S.S. Discovery's captain abandoned it near the planet Jupiter, its crew mysteriously dead or gone, with yet another giant, black monolith standing ominously nearby. Now, the Americans and the Russians, ever at odds with one another, have agreed on a joint mission to investigate the situation, with three Americans going along on a Russian spacecraft. Their explorations again reveal the presence of higher intelligences guiding Mankind's destiny and even restructuring our universe.

Three familiar characters return to the film. Dr. Heywood Floyd, this time played by Roy Scheider, becomes the main character in the drama, and he has a more well-rounded personality than before. Whereas Kubrick preferred to leave his characters as bloodless cyphers, Scheider invests Floyd with far more animation and emotion. Keir Dullea reprises his role as Dave Bowman, the captain of the Discovery; and the familiar voice of Douglas Rain once again personifies the HAL 9000 computer.

In addition, the cast includes several other fine actors: John Lithgow plays Dr. Walter Curnow, an astronaut-engineer with a fear of heights. Helen Mirren plays Tanya Kirbuk (a play on "Kubrick"), the captain of the Russian team. And Bob Balaban plays Dr. R. Chandra, HAL's creator, his "father" so to speak. They make a convincing unit.

Together with some stunningly beautiful special effects, the cast and sets create an absorbing story. Of course, those introductory strains from Richard Strauss's "Also Sprach Zarathustra" still open and close the film, setting the tone for whole affair.

Video:
The DVD picture quality had always been good, and it's no less so here in high-definition Blu-ray. Using a dual-layer BD50 and a VC-1 video codec, the Warners engineers provide a clear, clean image in the film's original 2.40:1 aspect ratio. It appears that director Peter Hyams chose to shoot much of the film under natural lighting conditions (much as Kubrick favored), so don't expect every scene to be bright and glowing. Instead, expect most of the interior shots to look quite lifelike but subdued. In outdoor footage, colors are brilliant, however, deep and rich. Contrasts look strong and definition sharp, with a light film grain present to provide texture.

Audio:
The Blu-ray disc offers the sound in both lossless Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and lossy Dolby Digital 5.1. The TrueHD firms up the sound slightly, smooths it out, and provides marginally better clarity and dynamics, although neither audio track makes the most effective use of the rear speakers. While separation is fairly good in the front channels, it is somewhat limited in rear-channel output. Deep bass is prodigious and taut, though; you'll know your subwoofer is working from the beginning "Zarathustra" fanfare. This was the first movie soundtrack that, when I first heard it in a theater, actually shook the seats. It does no less here.

Extras:
To complete the package, Warner Bros. offer a ten-minute vintage featurette on the making of the film, with interviews with the writer, director, and stars, hosted by Arthur C. Clarke, plus a well-worn theatrical trailer. Furthermore, we get thirty-two scene selections; pop-up menus; English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, and Portuguese spoken languages; French, Spanish, Italian, German, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, and Finnish subtitles; and English captions for the hearing impaired.

Parting Thoughts:
Watch for a couple of cameos by novelist Arthur C. Clarke. He first appears sitting on a park bench feeding pigeons in front of the White House, and he appears again as a face on the cover of "Time" magazine, presumably the face of the President. He seems to have had a good time with the project, and I think viewers will have a good time, too, if they understand beforehand that "2010" is a more traditional, straightforward science-fiction story than "2001."

I'm sure the promotional people at Warners feel it's mandatory for every buyer of "2001" to also purchase "2010." And I see no reason why viewers can't enjoy both, providing, as I've said, they go into it with the knowledge that the two films are very different in style and content--one a preeminent classic, its successor merely a competent follow-up.

"Something's going to happen...something wonderful."