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| Poster pic from IMDB. |
People often think of this movie like it's an outdated relic of the Cold War, that also lives under the shadow of the first movie. Its true that perhaps the first is more memorable (for better or worse), than 2010 and it has certainly aged a little worse than 2001, but I still feel it is often unfairly forgotten compared to it's predecessor. Despite this movie having been a respectable box office success when coming out, I find not many people talk about it today. outside of complete sci-fi film nuts like me.
Assuming you have actually seen 2001, the premise of this one is easy to grasp: in this possible future, the Cold War is still raging, and despite NASA wanting to go out and find out what happened to the Discovery mission, budgets have hit hard and they are unable to complete their own craft before the USSR are able to send one for themselves to the area. So, the US are forced to send their own specialists to hitch a ride with the Soviets to see if the Discovery is recoverable, reactivate HAL, solve the mystery of it's failure, and see if whatever caused the disaster is still a threat.
First, there are the downsides. Yeah, 2010 had some really big shoes to fill from the get go, and unless the people making the film were planning on breaking the bank, it was naturally going to have some trouble in the visuals department compared to the first movie. That being said though, despite some special effects scenes being hot trash (like the awful blue screened spacewalk scenes), there are still a lot of scenes that are still fantastically good, as it was still made in an era with actual physical models and sets instead of the ubiquitous green screens of today.
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| Note that this movie came out in 1984, and uses curved CRT monitors for the Dicovery sets, but the original sets in 1967 had managed to show flat screen displays almost 30 years before they were invented! |
Secondly, a lot of people now look on the Cold War aspect of the story as silly and as something that has not aged well either. I tend to disagree with that, as I love the idea of this now being an alternate-future type of story kind of like Star Trek: First Contact or Man In the High Castle. That, and the overall moral to the conflict is still applicable today, just not between the US and former USSR. As the movie states, "our governments are enemies, not us" is a quote that rings true and can be applied to a lot of situations today. Some would say this movie is cheesy because of it's setting and the time it was made in, but I say that is all hogwash (although I admit, Helen Mirren doing a Russian accent is just laughable).
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| The model shots are just gorgeous though and they still hold up. |
As for the parts of the movie that are an improvement over the first one is that it's nowhere near as slow paced as the original and can certainly be enjoyed by a much wider audience for that reason alone. As much as I love the first film, it is way too self indulgent and drags on far longer than is welcome by most. Even for people like me who love the first film for it being a massive special effects spectacle, the pacing can still ruins some of mood and tension intended by the story, as well as having a confusing ending for most, which brings me to my next point.
I absolutely love the atmosphere created by this film, it just reeks with mystery and foreboding, which is a big plus in my book when it's done correctly and it's delivered in spades here. Also, compared to the first, there is far more tension, higher stakes, better character development, a (now) very unique setting, and scenes so ominous and creepy, it tingles the spine, great acting showcased throughout, and an excellent 80s soundtrack that really sell the mood.
Another amazing aspect of the film is that most of the Russian crew seen in the movie were actual Russian, Ukrainian and Latvian actors who either defected or emigrated to the US during the Cold War. It's a rabbit hole, so I wont go into it here, but you can read about some of the actor's stories on Wikipedia here:
So, despite it not being as pretty as a film as the first, I think almost every other aspect of it is far better that than 2001 and I have certainly re-watched 2010 far more than the original. Basically, if you like good classic Sci-Fi, you can do far worse than this one, so give it a shot. The trailer was remade in high def by a dedicated youtuber which you can watch below, but even when remastered, it really doesn't do the movie justice IMHO:
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