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From: louie@umd5.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.movies,net.sf-lovers
Subject: 2010 review review
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Date: Sun, 9-Dec-84 22:21:51 EST
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Posted: Sun Dec  9 22:21:51 1984
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What follows is a review of the movie "2010" reproduced here without
prior permission from the Washington Post "Weekend" section.
==============================================================================

		            2010: Odyssey Two
		Mankind's Spaced Out Again, by Jupiter
	        	     By Rita Kemply

  In the beginning, Arthur C. Clarke created "2001: A Space Odyssey."  The
next 15 years, he rested.  Now Peter Hyams presents the sequel to the
metaphysial cliffhanger, a larger-than-life work based on Clarke's
"2010: Odyssey Two," a cerebral story of second genesis.

  Keir Dullea returns as [sic] John Bowman, the astronaut who made
contact with the Eerie Beings in the classic directed by Stanley Kubrick.
And Canadian Douglas Rain reprises his role as the voice of H.A.L 9000,
the computer who went mad on the original odyssey. Bowman's last
transmission from the now-silent Discovery, "My God, it's full of
stars," gives us the starting point in "2010."

  A team of Russian and American scientists takes the Soviet spacecraft
Leonov to investigate the [sic] Jupiterian monoliths that turned Bowman
into the big Star Baby.  Is Bowman a god, the Messiah, a close relative
of the Kwistaz Haderach?  And what about H.A.L.?  Who was behind the
secret message in his circuits? Was it the CIA or IBM?  And what is a
higher life form anyway?

  They'll learn the Big Answers to the Big Questions in this chapter of
the cosmic soap opera.  But the revelations are equivocal, faithful to
the ambiguity of the original.  The major difference between films is
"2010's" greater emphasis on people.  The performances are all
excellent, but Helen Mirren is utterly convincing as the formidable
commander of the Leonov.  Roy Scheider costars as the former head of the
Space Agency, with John Lithgow as the [sic] enginer of Discovery and
Bob Balaban as the father of H.A.L.

  The great Lithgow's bout with acrophobia as he crosses the void from
Leonov to Discovery is one of the film's best, most human moments.
Balaban's relationship with H.A.L. is also tender. (He cries.)  But an
attempt to warm things up by including Scheider's family and pet
dolphins just slows things down.

  Space is slowww.  And it is vast.  Like the original, "2010" is a
celebration of spaciousness and tomorrow's technology.  But current
technology has surpassed the author's imagination for now.  Sometimes
the crew looks out on Io or Europa and gasps as the wonder of it.  But
it really isn't as interesting as a live Voyager transmission.

  Much of the science of "2010" is questionable in the face of what we
knew, know and are learning.  A new star appears in the solar system and
the earth escapes without a tremor.  The Leonov embarks without enough
fuel to either return or slow down.  They do "air braking" (without air)
to slow Leonov as she whips around the planet and into a new orbit.
How's that for science friction.

  Still "2010" is a repectable production despite the disappointments.
But sometimes a move just cries out for a wise old rubber Muppet.  But
now, not so much as a hairy paw.

=========================================================================
[Flame on, NOVA intensity]

I'm not sure what to think about a movie after a review like this.  I really
wonder if Rita Kempley actually saw this movie.  How could someone screw up
Dave Bowman's name??  John??  And Jupiterian, I would think that the simple
adjective "Jovian" would do just fine.  Some of the not-so-fine plot details
which the movie seems to go out of its way to point out are completely 
missed.  The Leonov doesn't depart without enough fuel.  The early departure
from Jupiter is makes the kludge with Discovery necessary.  And "air braking"
is not science fiction made up for the movie, it was even featured on the
cover of Popular Science a year or so ago.

I'm sure glad I was saw 2010 (on opening day, first show) before I read
this review.

Louis A. Mamakos
Computer Science Center - Systems Programming
University of Maryland, College Park

Internet: louie@umd5.arpa
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