Helen Mirren wears an unidentified watch

Following Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey was a job nobody wanted. Peter Hyams took it anyway, writing and directing the 1984 sequel from Arthur C. Clarke's novel. Where Kubrick made a philosophical puzzle, Hyams made a thriller with a ticking clock. A joint Soviet-American crew aboard the Leonov races to Jupiter to reach the abandoned Discovery before tensions between Moscow and Washington turn a rescue mission into an international incident. Helen Mirren plays Captain Tanya Kirbuk, the Leonov's commander, and she runs the ship with the kind of clipped authority that doesn't ask permission.

This was 1984, peak Cold War, and the film takes the politics seriously. Kirbuk is loyal to Moscow, skeptical of the three Americans aboard her ship, and competent enough to override everyone when survival demands it. Mirren brings zero vanity to the role, which makes the performance hold up better than the special effects. Her watch hasn't been identified. A Soviet naval officer at the time would most likely have worn something from the Vostok or Raketa factories, the standard-issue wristwatches of the Soviet military. Whatever wardrobe chose, the film's attention to Cold War authenticity suggests they considered it.