Netflix Minute: 2010: The Year We Make Contact

Netflix Minute is a weekly feature highlighting a title from Netflix's catalog of instant view films. If you want to spend a night snuggled up with a bag of popcorn and don't want to drive to the video store, this is for you.
It's rare that I actually have a connection to a movie because of the books, but having listened to 2001 and all four of its sequels on audiobook, I'm pretty attached. The thing is, I'm not completely gaga over Kubrick's adaptation of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Frankly, if I hadn't listened to the book first I would have probably been completely lost at the end. He really left the final moments of the movie open to discussion and analysis, which is great, but when taken as a series it really helps to have a better understanding of that last big event before moving into 2010: The Year We Make Contact. And I think that's pretty important, because 2010 is easily my favorite of the series.

Honestly, when I finally decided to sit down and watch the movie version, I wasn't expecting it to be very good. It seems like everyone has forgotten that there's a sequel to a movie that is widely considered a classic. That and the fact that Kubrick had no part in it made me a bit wary, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Nine years after the crew of the Discovery was thought to be lost, the Russians approach America with a proposition. They are able to reach the derelict ship years before it's owners, but they won't have the information they need to work the computers. So, despite the tensions between the two countries there seems to be some benefits to working together to try to figure out more about the mysterious black monoliths and what exactly happened to the men of the abandoned ship.

Nowadays the nerds would have gone postal on the Internet when they found out Kubrick wasn't directing 2010, and would have torn the film apart after release. Maybe they did, but in 1984 there was no YouTube for them to post a video rant. Though, I'm not sure they would have made many logical arguments if there was, because Peter Hyams stayed pretty close to the book from what I can remember.

And while the original film was released in 1968 -- a whole 12 years before they made this sequel -- it seems to fit quite well. It's been maybe a year or so since I last watched 2001, but I didn't notice much of a difference in the look of the spaceships or equipment. That's a pretty impressive feat considering the technological upgrades to the art of film-making there must have been in those 12 years.

Ultimately, I was really happy with the entire package. Though, if 43 years is long enough, I wouldn't mind if they revamped the series. It might not have the same impact today, given that we've already lived through both of those years and didn't find any scary black monoliths, but I'd be interested to see Hollywood's take on making it a trilogy and making a big-screen adaptation to 3001, the grand finale of the series (2016 wasn't very interesting. They can just skip that one.)

Of course, they'd probably stick Michael Bay on it and completely ruin it, so I'm just glad that there is a good film version of 2010 out there. Because, seriously, what happens in that part of the series blows my mind a little. If you watched 2001: A Space Odyssey and weren't even aware that there was a sequel, I'd suggest checking out 2010: The Year We Make Contact on Netflix. It's easily worth your lazy Sunday afternoon.