2010

1984 ***1/2 116 mins.

As a film unto itself, this is not that bad. However, the fact that it is a sequel to Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, lowers it a lot in my eyes. This, basically, answers all of the questions that Stanley Kubrick intended not to be answered. The viewer of the first film was supposed to draw his own conclusions. Well, this just takes the fun of that away. Incidentally, there are also two additional books by Arthur C. Clarke--2061: Odyssey Three and 3001: The Final Odyssey. I guess some people just don't know when to leave a good thing alone. As I said, though, the sequels are not completely bad. They are actually rather entertaining; they just take away the artistic ambiguity of the first film.
Rated PG.