Review of 2010 (1984) by Paladin Of Odin — 17 Nov 2008

Taken as a solid sci-fi space opera with decent effects and an intriguing central mystery, '2010' is certainly serviceable enough entertainment (though its cold-war politics are myopic and dated enough to be certifiably clunky at this point).

As a sequel to Stanley Kubrick's towering cinematic masterpiece, however, '2010' is thoroughly underwhelming, since it lacks nearly all of '2001's visual splendor and challenging philosophical ruminations.

Peter Hyams does direct with slick Hollywood savvy, and he certainly keeps things rolling along at an engaging clip. Bottom line, though, '2010' wastes a lot of time trying to explain things from the first film that didn't really need explaining, and diminishes them greatly in the process.

It's worthwhile as a well-crafted relic of the cold war days (and as a fairly thoughtful sci-fi entertainment, something we're sorely lacking in these days), but don't go in expecting anything even closely resembling '2001'.