OK, let’s get a little of the obvious out of the way: this movie depicts something of the old Cold War still happening in 2010. That obviously didn’t happen though we could argue a different Cold War took its place. Regardless, this movie was made in 1984, based off a sequel novel from Arthur C Clarke about what happened after a certain Space Odyssey, and it reflects the time it was made in even if history as of 2022 says something different happened. But I don’t much mind that. If I had a nickel for every time a sci-fi movie promised something by a specific date in the future that I have lived through and which obviously didn’t come true, well, I would have a lot of nickels.
Besides, I don’t know that I would call 2001 a personal favorite anyway. However, it takes a bit of courage to try to do a follow-up to any Kurbick movie, regardless.
Nine years after Dave Bowman (returning cast member Keir Dullea) and the rest of the crew of the Discovery disappeared on a flight to Jupiter to investigate, among other things, a mysterious monolith, there’s a chance for another ship to go take a look. The Soviets have a ship ready to go, and they’re going regardless. The Americans, most notably Dr. Heywood Floyd (Roy Scheider, replacing William Sylvester from the original movie), have the data. Will the two countries work together to go out there and get some answers? The Cold War is heating up pretty hot, with a hawkish, unseen American President about to do something over events happening in Latin America. Floyd is permitted to go along with Discovery designer Walter Curnow (John Lithgow) and HAL 9000 creator Dr. Chandra (Bob Balaban). With the Soviets under the command of the stern Captain Tanya Kirbuk (Hellen Mirren), they set out to find out what’s going on out there just as the two superpowers sound like they’re about to go to war. Can this combined crew work together to solve the mystery of the Discovery?
Credit where it’s due: the original 2001 is about, more or less, the history of human civilization in many respects, and I can say I have only a vague idea what happens at the end of the movie. HAL goes insane, Dave becomes a starbaby, and…how? Why? I don’t know. It’s the sort of symbolic sort of thing Stanley Kubrick’s movie is known for, and this movie at no point in time tries to explain it. Floyd’s encounter with Dave Bowman shows Bowman changing into various different versions of himself from the end of the first movie whenever the camera cuts away. That’s it. Likewise, 2010 is nowhere near as ambitious in its scope as 2001. If the first one was about the history of the human race, this one was more about whether or not humans can get along well enough to explore and discover the stars. The monoliths come back, but what they are or where they come from is still a mystery. The only thing that really gets explained is why HAL (voice of returning cast member Douglas Rain) went insane in the first place, and it has to do with the movie’s overall greater socio-political sort of vibe.
Then again, I suspect writer/director Peter Hyams knew better than to try and copy Kubrick. He seems to be trying to make his own movie, with different themes and ideas, just in the same universe as the older movie. In that sense, it reminds me of what writer/director Mike Flanagan did with his sequel to The Shining when he made Doctor Sleep. Both directors knew they couldn’t hope to match Kubrick’s accomplishment, so they just made their own movie and perhaps didn’t worry about it too much.
That is not to say that 2010 entirely succeeds on its own merits. It’s fine, but aside from Balaban’s prickly computer programmer, I wouldn’t say any of the performances are all that distinctive. The special effects were probably top of the line for the 80s, and I wouldn’t say the movie made any major missteps, but it likewise didn’t strike me as anything special. As an addition to the world of 2001, it’s fine, but I don’t think it is all that necessary, and people who are big fans of the first movie probably won’t dig this one nearly as much.
Grade: C+
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