I'd go with more, but 2010 is a sequel to the novel. Slightly different endings and all that. Generally speaking 2001 wasn't really intended to make much sense, it was mostly supposed to be weirdness for the sake of weirdness. With 2010, they try making sense of it. The aliens are essentially gods, the monoliths are a medium through which they can alter the world (the effect on evolution, the creation of planets, etc), and they double as gateways to an alternate reality/higher dimension/alien world/"heaven".