So so

Rating: 4/10 (22 July 2012)

Time has not allowed this film to remain relevant in my opinion. It was good in its day when space travel was new, the world was running fast-forward to conquer space, and our imaginations were running wild with a million "unknowns" about the reality of space travel, but now? It is most certainly antiquated in its approach and realism. In fact I am watching this movie right now on Encore. My first impression is the gap between the 60s style of clothing and the technology being used in space travel. This makes no sense. It is like mixing the Flintstones cartoon and having them taking a trip into space. Another point in which I actually tested is this; I would like to watch a version of this movie without the symphonic music. I find it outdated and useless and I would rather hear some effects and background noise in place of it, or for the space travel shots, no sound at all. Another point which bothers me and that is the use of modern-day 1960s business logo's such as Pan American and Ma Bell. Also, if anyone remembers the old Hollywood-type machoism that permeated their movies back then, you'll know what I am talking about. In both scenes in which one character is talking to his daughter and in another scene in which Lockwood's character is receiving a "happy birthday" call from his parents, the words "I love you" never were spoken. This is incredibly short-sighted and would never happen in real life but as I said, this was the Hollywood of real-men back then and it would most certainly not be eliminated in today's scripts.
The best actor in my opinion is Gary Lockwood but the director could have used him much more and his skills were not utilized. If it weren't for him this movie would have failed.
It's an OK movie but I think "2010" is a much better movie and more true-to-life and the acting is much better. I would like to see "2061" come out some day.