Caveat: Having never seen those dumpsters, I have the nagging feeling that I could well be outsmarted by the bears.
There’s another factor though: The bear will keep trying over and over if it smells something in there, for hours if it feels like it. Tourists, meanwhile, might not even try again if they can’t get it open right away.
2001: A Space Odyssey was rightfully not well received when it was first released. It is incredibly well crafted in terms of visual effects and has about 30 minutes of great, tense sci-fi in it. Shame about the other six hours (perceived) of tedium. Even in the late 60s people in ape costumes smashing things while the soundtrack goes aaaAAAaaUuuAaa wasn’t interesting for more than a minute, don’t even get me started on the stewardess, docking, moon journey or the damn screensaver. Which, yes, is iconic, but 20 minutes?
It does make sense that people would get high before subjecting themselves to this and then put on a Pink Floyd album during all the tedious scenes.
2010 is a better movie. It starts with dialogue and knows when slowing down increases tension.