My first post on the movie 2001 a space odyssey was anything but detailed. I chose it to do it that way similar to what Kubrick chose to do in his screenplay. Kubrick’s smartness lied in the fact that he exposed very little of the mystery so that the viewer would not loose interest in the narration even as the story unravels at a slow pace.
There is not a single frame in 2001, which shows us the world known to us. Due to which the viewer felt a feeling of isolation. However, in the sequel the very first frame throws away the eerie atmosphere Kubrick was able to create. Peter hyams thus chose to be different. Furthermore, the information he feeds us with of the first mission is indication enough that this film would not be anything like 2001 atleast in its narration. The first 30 minutes of 2010 will dissolve any expectations one had of the film having seen 2001.
The attention to detail that Kubrick paid certainly was missing and it is not fair to expect the same sort of ingenuity and meticulousness from anyone else. 2010 looks convincing with its computer graphics but it lacks the believability that 2001 carried. Especially the centrifuge of the discovery with its console units and the hibernation pads looked so convincing. The scenes involving bowman jogging through the centrifuge and his watching transmissions from earth are breathtaking and I doubt if ever cinematography would reach levels set by 2001. 2010 however lacks such grandeur. The probing of Europa was created well though and it was intense one should admit. I cannot help but say that space depicted in 2010 was not the same as done by Kubrick. It lacked the vastness though it did not seem to be artificial. I can bet the scenes showing the craters of moon will remain the most authentic and beautifully created scenes for ages to come.
The first aspect that should have earlier pointed out is 2010 is dated unlike 2001.The cold war is unnecessarily lug on to the film. The scene showing the discovery orbiting one of the moons of Jupiter was not all that convincing. The characters seemed to speak to much though one would have the propensity to say such a thing of any other film after watching 2001.
Peter hyams did his best in filming one of the most prolific Sci-Fi stories ever written and his job was made more difficult because Kubrick made 2001. To be honest I would have liked it better if 2010 was never made at all. 2001 deserved a better sequel. I doubt if any filmmaker has the tenacity to film the other two editions. I also doubt if any filmmaker will be able to portray space better. I doubt if any filmmaker has the scrupulousness that Kubrick had. I doubt if any filmmaker can make hypnotizing pieces of art. In this post, I have merely tried to indicate the aberration in 2010 from 2001, let alone other aspects like the use of music, the use of allegories. I would like to post on these later.
