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Author
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Topic: "2010" (Optical Super 8 Feature)
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Osi Osgood
Film God
Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted January 01, 2010 09:43 AM
What better time to review this, eh?
Personally, I felt that this sequel was better than "2001: A Space Odessy", but only because it was more accesible to the everyday viewer and moved at a quicker pace.
The Story ...
The film begins with a prologue, explaining what happened to the first mission, and this is done by use of freeze frames from the first film, 2001 ... We then shoot to the "present".
Roy Scheider (his characters name is "Floyd") is a retired NASA worker/astronaut. He is contacted by an ex-employee about new signals coming from Jupiter and they may very well be signals from the first manned space-flight (Discovery) there which went so horribly wrong, (the first film). He, along with a united russian team, (as they have the spacecraft to make the trip), will go and repair the HAL unit,
("Hello Dave") and see if they can piece together what really happened to the mission.
There are the usual tensions between the american/russian teams.
Some of this is due to the two Governments, but some of it is natural, but these tensions (more a lack of trust), slowly goes away.
The other americans of note are, besides Roy, Bob Balaban, (of Close Encounters fame) who plays the "computer tech" and John Lithgow, who appears to be at first suspicious of everything that the Russians are up to.
After a thrilling rocket around the gravitational pull of Jupiter(one of the better scenes), they come upon the intact ship of the first film, spinning on it's orbit. They also come upon the moon in question, where they recieved "Dave's" last message.
They get the power back up and running, as well as send some probes down to the moon, which are destroyed by some unknown force.
Meanwhile, Bob Balaban's character, is becoming more and more "emotionally" involved with "HAL" and losing it slightly.
This technician has more in common with computers than people, (which is demonstrated by his relationship earlier in the film with "SAL".
Now begins many a strange hallucination, (or are they hallucinations?) upon the original ship, which includes a nice cameo from "Dave" (Kier Dulleia), as Roy follows him about the ship ...
Dave: (young) You see, something is about to happen ...
Roy: What?
Dave: (very old) Something ... wonderful!
They have also encountered the mysterious obelisk, which floats before them. As the climax of the film begins, Dave visits his family members back on earth to say goodbye, (don't ask me to explain how, its SCI FI!)
one of Jupiters moons are transformed into a living world, (upon which the obelisk now rests). A message is sent to the surviving ship, as well as all humanity ...
"All these worlds are yours
except Europa
Attempt no landings there.
Use themn together
use them in peace"
... and, upon that very newly formed planet, stands the Obelisk, amongst the swampy ooze that is the newly formed world.
THE END
This must have been a very hard story to transfer to film. What you could get away with in the 60's, film-wise (very slow, nebulous and mysterious film-making in nature) was impossible with the money pressures and "industrializing" of film-making in the 80's, when it became more about making a big profit than in artistic creativity. They did an admirable job.
This was, (in this writers opinion) Roy Scheiders last hurrah, hit-wise. His best years were the 70's, with such big hits as "The French Connection" and "Jaws". he entered the 80's with "Blue Thunder" (also a nice little action piece) and then, in 1984 (or 83?) this grand film. After this film, his star waned very quickly, though he would get a boost back up with the Sepilberg produced "Sea Quest" in the early 90's.
This wasn't a big hit when it came out. This is probably due to the fact that every big hit Sci-fi was all about big bangs and explosions and laser fire, thanks to the Star Wars Franchise, as well as the Star Trek franchise. A thinking mans sci-fi was sadly out of place by the mid 80's.
It was, however, a great piece of film-making and worthy of many viewings!
We are fortunate in the super 8 world to be able to see it not in just one format, but many. The trailer was released on super 8 in scope, as well as the feature, both in scope and flat!
Derann released this feature in scope, (I don't know if it was released in stereo, it would be nice if it was). I have never seen a print of this title in scope Super 8, but judging by the other scope prints of the same vintage, (Alien, STAR WARS, ect.) I'm sure that the image is to die for, being quite sharp. I'm sure that this print would either be on AGFA or L.P.P. stock, which means that it will be around with vintage color for a long time.
My review is concerning the much rarer Super 8 optical sound FLAT version. Now, while this was a film made in anamorphic scope, the special effects were designed for the granduer of scope. This FLAT print appears to be a very well "repositioning" of the shots, so that, though you don't have the widescreen image, the image is moved enough so that you aren't missing as much as you would think. Thats the sign of a good "editor" when it comes to changing the visual look of a film. We all remember really horrible scope film where they would just have the camera in the middle, and both people are cut off on the left and right, eh? In other words, this is a better example of the "pan and scan" film format.
The sharpness of the image is absolutely spot on! It is definitely comparable to any good 16MM, a hallmark of the optical super 8's. This is no surprise, as these optical features were nearly always taken from brand new direct from the studio of origin master negatives, and not generations down dupes.
Being that this print isn't faded in any way, the soundtrack is vintage, and while it is not stereo, the mono reproduction of the soundtrack is better than you'd expect, nice bottom to the soundtrack and good high end levels.
I really can't be sure of the stock, but being that it isn't faded in the least, It could be an L.P.P. print, (as L.P.P was already in wide circulation by then), but it could be very good unfaded Kodak SP, as it was used extensively for Optical sound Super 8 at the time.
A great sci-fi feature to have in your collection, whether in scope or flat! Considering when it came out, we are lucky to have had a feature of this calibar coming out of the Hollywood grind machine of the 80's
LONG LIVE SUPER 8!!
[ January 13, 2010, 09:24 AM: Message edited by: Osi Osgood ]
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"All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
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Thomas Murin, Jr.
Master Film Handler
Posts: 260
From: Lanoka Harbor, NJ, USA
Registered: Sep 2009
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posted January 11, 2010 11:13 PM
Decent review, Osi, but you misunderstood a few aspects of the film.
The new signals are coming from Jupiter not Venus.
The tension between the Russians and the Americans are caused entirely by their governments, not the crews themselves who become good friends over the course of the film.
John Lithgow never seemed suspicious of the Russians to me, in fact he very quickly becomes best friends with one of them!
"They get the power back up and running" You should've mentioned that this refers to the Discovery (ship from the first film) and not the Russian ship.
Bob Balaban does not "lose it slightly". He just becomes upset that HAL acted the way he did in the first film when he was given conflicting orders by the US government. He is just concerned that it could happen again which is why he does not allow anyone else to question HAL about the events of the previous film. I see nothing wrong with Balaban's behavior or what he does in the movie.
As for Balaban relating more to computers, yes, that's made clear in his first scene with SAL ( sort of cousin to HAL).
The probes do not disappear, they are destroyed by forces unknown, including a manned one.
When Dave appears to Floyd it is real, not a hallucination. The movie never leaves this in doubt as Dave appears on Earth right after this scene to say goodbye to loved ones.
quote:
This new planet is a "gift" to the people of earth, as long as they'll unite as one, and they are not to ever set foot on "IO" (I think thats the name of the planet).
First, a new planet is not created, one of Jupiter's moons, Europa is transformed into an Earth like planet with Jupiter as it's sun.
The new planet is not a "gift", that's not even implied. The exact message from the unknown forces is:
ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS
EXCEPT EUROPA
ATTEMPT NO LANDING THERE
USE THEM TOGETHER
USE THEM IN PEACE
In other words, Europa is off limits because the unknown forces want it to develop without human interference. The other planets we can do what we wish with.
The message of peace is just that. A message. Not an order or anything. However, world peace is implied in the films's final moments due to the fact that we now know we are no longer alone in the universe.
The final shot shows the surface of Europa looking something like a swamp...with a monolith in the middle of a lake. The unknown forces are clearly going to help Europa along in it's evolution as they did to Earth in the first film.
Arthur C. Clarke's novel 2061 details what happens when a spaceship crash lands on Europa. It's been a very long time since I read the book so I don't remember anything about it!
A final novel, which I've never read, 3001, brings the series to a conclusion. Need to track down a copy sometime.
The Blu-Ray of 2010 is terrific. With great color and film grain intact. The Dolby TrueHD audio will shake your house on occasion!
Mention must be made of Douglas Rain's return as HAL. His performance is perfect. Also perfect is David Shire's music score which is equal parts menacing and beautiful.
The movie was released in 1984 and it's so-so performance seems to have killed any interest in filming the other two books, which is a shame. Tom Hanks once talked about directing 3001 with elements of 2061 mixed in but that was 10 years ago.
I saw 2010 in theaters and many times since. I too like it better than the first film. I do own 2001 on the now defunct HD-DVD format where it looks terrific!
Anyway, hope this clarifies some things.
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My crummy Deviant Art account. Read my poetic tribute to the internet comic strip Ozy & Millie and view my crappy attempts at art.
http://cougartiger.deviantart.com/
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Osi Osgood
Film God
Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted January 12, 2010 09:27 AM
ThanX 4 the clarifications. I wrote it based upon my last viewing close to a year ago. It's strange the scenes that mean the most to me. My favorite scene is when Bob Balaban';s character seems to be wrestling with whether to lie to HAL, (In order to get compliance from HAL, which will lead to HAL's destruction), or to tell HAL the truth and jepaordize the mission and his fellow humans. It's a tense moment in the film that requires no big explosions or special effects and shows (in my opinion) what is missing in so many effects laden films of today.
Simple "human" moments, even though in that moment, a human is juggling between who he will show more humanity to ...
Other humans or an inanimate object, a computer, with apparantly more reactions.
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"All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
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