Review of 2010: The Year We Make Contact – Starring Roy Scheider and John Lithgow

Posted on 2007 under Drama

"2010: The Year We Make Contact" is the long-awaited sequel to "2010: A Space Odyssey". Though nowhere near the quality of the original, it's still an excellent film in my opinion. The movie stars Roy Scheider as Dr. Heywood Floyd, the scientist who'd studied the Monolith on the moon in the original film, though a different actor was used in that one.

In "2010", Dr. Floyd is sent on a Soviet mission to Jupiter aboard the Leonov, a Russian spaceship, to investigate the larger version of the Monolith orbiting the planet as well as to determine what went wrong with the original mission. The United States and the Soviet Union are on very bad terms, but Dr. Floyd manages to convince the government to put him on the mission.

Dr. Floyd is awoken from hibernation and told of the possible discovery of life on Europa, one of Jupiter's large moons. The crew sends a probe down to Europa to investigate. They find a life form, but what appears to be a large electrostatic discharge destroys the probe along with its telemetry. Dr. Floyd interprets this as a warning from some higher intelligence connected with the Monolith to stay away from Europa.

After performing aerobraking through Jupiter's atmosphere, the crew arrives at the Discovery, which has become a derelict ship orbiting Io, a large volcanic moon. The other two American astronauts, Dr. Chandra, programmer of HAL, and Dr. Curnow, systems engineer who designed the Discovery, are revived from hibernation and board the Discovery along with Dr. Floyd. Curnow powers up the Discovery and Chandra revives HAL, determining the cause of his earlier malfunction as due to being given government orders to keep the Monolith a secret, which had conflicted with his design capabilities.

Next the crew journey to the Monolith, with both ships tethered together. Max, one of the Russian crewmembers, is ordered to pilot a probe down to the Monolith against the better judgment of his American counterparts. He ends up getting swallowed up by the Monolith and presumably killed.

Shortly thereafter, David Bowman's ghost visits his former wife, appearing to her on her TV screen. He also visits his mother in a nursing home, just before she dies. Meanwhile, relations heat up between the US and the Soviet Union to the point of a formal declaration of war, whence the Americans are ordered to return to the Discovery and prepare for a return trip home.

Dr. Floyd gets an unexpected visit from David Bowman's spirit, who tells him the crew must leave in two days because something wonderful is going to happen. In panic, Dr. Floyd rushes to the Leonov and tells the captain to prepare for an early departure. He devises a clever scheme of using the Discovery as a booster. Then they notice that the Monolith has mysteriously disappeared.

As the crew prepare for their departure, they discover a mysterious black spot on Jupiter. Upon further investigation, they notice that it's composed of millions of copies of the Monolith, which are multiplying exponentially and threatening to engulf the planet. HAL has been ordered to sacrifice the Discovery as well as himself in order to save the Leonov crew. Dr. Chandra tries to persuade HAL to do this at first without telling him the true reason, but eventually he does and HAL agrees to proceed. With the crew on board, the Leonov detatches from the Discovery, which ends up getting engulfed by the shock wave following the destruction of Jupiter, but the Leonov remains a safe distance away.

In the process of being destroyed, Jupiter is converted into a new star, providing heat for Europa. Just prior to the destruction of the Discovery, David Bowman's spirit had communicated with HAL and told him to broadcast the message "ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS EXCEPT EUROPA. ATTEMPT NO LANDING THERE. USE THEM TOGETHER. USE THEM IN PEACE." The message appears on the ship's consoles monitoring the new star, whence they learn the true purpose of the mission. The United States and the Soviet Union also agree to end the war.

The movie ends thousands of years in the future, after the ice has melted on Europa, and it has become a lush jungle. A new version of the Monolith appears on Europa.

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