2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
directed by
screenplay by
Stanley Kubrick
2010 (1984)
directed by Peter Hyams
screenplay by Peter Hyams
We just rewatched these a few months ago so felt no need to do so again. They're both keepers. 2001 is the story Kubrick wanted to tell; one focused on aesthetics, design, and special effects. There's a veneer of intellectual depth that hides a paucity of story, and nonetheless, I've come to like it. Better than almost any other sci-fi movie, it gets at the vast, emptiness and loneliness of space and the strangeness of any real aliens we might meet. The design work is absolutely brilliant and all these decades later the effects still look realistic. Though the main actor on screen, Keir Dullea isn't real star - the real stars are Daniel Richter as Moonwatcher, the main monkey man, and Douglas Rain as the voice of the computer, HAL 9000.
2010 is the story Arthur C. Clarke, writer of both movies' underlying stories, wanted to tell; a tale of the endless possibilities for humanity among the stars, of the need, and possibility, of humanity uniting to avoid destroying itself, and the nuts and bolts of space travel. Again, it's a movie I like a lot. Not being directed by Kubrick, it's a much more human and emotional movie. Roy Scheider, Bob Balaban, and John Lithgow are all great as the American crew, and Helen Mirren and Elya Baskin are equally good as Soviet crew members. I find the anti-war, peacenik stuff overdone and dated, but the sentiment is noble. It's the hard science-fiction stuff I love best in the movie. The portrayal of the Soviet ship Leonov and its arrival and flight is the sort of real science I'd like to see more often on the screen.
verdict: both keepers
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| Daniel Richter - Natasha Shneider and Roy Scheider |
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