2010 – The Year We Make Contact, DVD Review

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I have been waiting for a very long time for this particular DVD. When I first bought my player this was one of the first titles I tried to get hold of. I found out that there was a Region 1 version available but it was non-anamorphic and it wasn’t rated very highly in the reviews I had seen. I probably would have bought it anyway but I heard that there was a Region 2 release coming soon.

One year later and the Region 2 disk is finally here. In the last few weeks I’d seen rumours on some DVD sites that the picture would be anamorphic. This at least made me think that the wait had been worth it. Imagine my disappointment as I loaded the disk up, only to be confronted with a non-anamorphic picture. I may as well have bought the US disk a whole year ago.

So, enough of the gripe what about the film. 2010 is the sequel to 2001 A Space Odyssey. If you’ve never seen 2001 I would strongly suggest that you watch it before watching this film. Although you can get by without it, it will help you to understand some of the background to the story.

To give you a brief overview of the plot. A joint mission between the United States and Russia is sent to Jupiter aboard the spaceship Leonov. Their mission is to locate the spaceship discovery and find out what happened to it and its crew nine years previous. They also plan to investigate the Monolith that orbits Jupiter.

When they arrive at Jupiter they find that relations between Russia and US have strained almost to the point of war and they are forced to part, with the Russians staying aboard Leonov and the Americans moving to the now functioning Discovery. Finally something starts to happen to the Monolith that forces them to work together one final time in order to save themselves.

Although (as I’ve already mentioned) this is a non-anamorphic disk, the picture isn’t really too bad. I noticed the occasional scratch, but I assume this is down to the original source. Colours are strong and bright however and black levels are good with no noticeable artefacts or colour banding (there’s quite a lot of black in this film). I think the best way to describe the picture quality is that it’s the best you’re going to get if you want this film.

Thankfully they’ve been a bit more generous with the soundtrack as it has been remixed to a Dolby Digital 5.1 format. I’ve watched 2010 several times in the past on Television, VHS tape etc. and it has never sounded so good. There’s some real stand out moments like the air braking sequence. As the Flaming Leonov shoots across the screen the roar of it rips across the room, great stuff.

Sadly we come onto the disk extras. Unless you count different language tracks and subtitles as extras then there aren’t any at all. I believe that the Region 1 disk comes with a small featurette from Arthur C.Clarke, but we don’t even get that here.

So, would I recommend this disk? If like me you’re a big fan of the film then it’s a definite yes. Although it could have been so much more, it’s still the best way you can get to watch the film. If however you can wait, it might be worth waiting for any future re-releases. I believe that 2001 is undergoing the special edition treatment and is due for cinema re-release next year. This could well spawn a new DVD box set, we can but hope.

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