Sphere (1998)

From yet another derivative science fiction novel by Michael Crichton comes this equally derivative and flaccid movie, in which three top Hollywood stars struggle to squeeze tension and excitement out of material that doesn't match their talents. You're supposed to find awe and mystery in Crichton's story about a team of scientists and scholars who discover a 300-year-old alien spacecraft deep on the ocean floor, but mostly you feel that this is all much ado about nothing. The exploration team consists of a psychologist (Dustin Hoffman), mathematician (Samuel L. Jackson), biochemist (Sharon Stone), and an astrophysicist (Liev Schreiber), and when they enter the alien ship they discover a mysterious sphere inside. What they don't know is that the sphere has the power to manipulate their thoughts and perceptions, and before long the scientists' undersea habitat is a veritable haunted house of frightening visions and creeping paranoia. Who can be trusted? What is the sphere's purpose, and why is it on the ocean floor? Sphere makes some attempt to answer these questions, but the film is a mess, and it leads to one of the most anticlimactic endings of any science fiction film ever made. There are moments of high intensity and psychological suspense, and the stellar cast works hard to boost the talky screenplay. But it's clear that this was a hurried production (Hoffman and director Barry Levinson made Wag the Dog during an extended production delay), and as a result Sphere looks and feels like a film that wasn't quite ready for the cameras. Though it's by no means a waste of time, it's undeniably disappointing. The special edition DVD includes audio commentary by Hoffman and Jackson and a behind-the-scenes featurette, Shaping the Sphere: The Art of the Special Effects Supervisor, exploring the alien ship's design and creation by special effects technicians. --Jeff Shannon Amazon.com

Good but not for everyone; Read the book first

Disclaimer: I'm a huge fan of the book so that's very likely to bias this review.

Okay, first of all, if you haven't read Sphere, read it first if you're interested in this movie. It's a fantastic book and a much better presentation of this story than the movie. If you watch the movie and then read the book, you're likely to enjoy the book much less. The movie is a great compliment to the book and adds some very good twists to the story.

The movie has a problem with pacing. It dives into the plot at the cost of potentially leaving the viewer confused and doesn't build up the suspense up front as much as it could. This is more to focus more time on the middle of the movie, but it loses some of the magic of the book.

Samuel L. Jackson and Dustin Hoffman both do a good job portraying their characters. Samuel L. Jackson especially nailed Harry and is possibly the best part of the movie adaptation. Liev Schreiber did a good job as Ted, but I was completely underwhelmed by Sharon Stone.

The sets and atmosphere were nicely done and the music supported it well, but on a whole, something seemed missing.

I highly recommend getting the book, reading it (possibly overnight) and then buying or renting this movie if you like the book. September 4, 2008

This Sci-fi has its moments

I agree that this is not the finest or most spectacular Sci-fi, but I do disagree with it being boring. I guess the final result is something left to be desired, but it did hold my interest throughout, only because I truly was interested in what was going on. It was a sort of mystery, though in the end, a tad dissapointing.

Sphere is made up of incredible actors who all do a fine job in their roles, Dustin Hoffman especially. That said, I'm really not sure how all of these actors thought it a good idea to star in such a mediocre film. It's just very odd, but like I said, they certainly make the best of it.

Almost the entire film takes place underwater, but I never really got a sense of claustrophobia from the characters, it all seemed very rushed in the beginning, especially with their 'training'. It all seemed very unrealistic, even for a sci-fi. Also, you don't even know that it's a true sci-fi until almost halfway through the film, where it gets a bit weird.

Like I said, the film has its moments, even a bit of surprise and suspense, but it is mediocre at best. August 20, 2008

I Liked It !!

I love movies that I have to figure out and so on that point I'm really feeling this movie. Not only was the movie itself good, but it was also scary at times, and there was plenty of suspense. We get a lot of "what" but very few "whys" so it keeps you kind of glued. Like everyone else I don't like the ending. They could have gone in so many other directions with the ending but they went with the strangest one. The remaining charachters decided to just "forget" everything that happened....ummm...??? Ok. This movie was a lot like the Event Horizon. I loved the Event Horizon also. I'd encourage anyone to see. May 24, 2008

OK For Fun

This movie starts out with some great special effects and introduces some very intriguing questions about the nature of time and space.

Those questions are never fully answered though as far as I noticed.

They discover an apparent extra terrestrial space craft that has been in the ocean since the 1700s and go down and explore it. But as the movie goes on you realize nothing is quite what it appears to be and anything that people can imagine is possible.

You have to use your imagination quite a bit with these types of movies. For example how likely is it that three people with no training could do everything required to operate an underwater military facility ?

There's the typical latches that are easy to manually open to let all of the water from the ocean into the lab, etc., and then close them again with no major effects. I guess the design of those latches hasn't changed much since World War 1.

I'm not sure Dustin Hoffman was a great casting job for the role of one of the scientists. Actually for me his role sort of provides comic relief. I don't think action / SciFi is a great venue for Hoffman. Still it was nice to see him in a movie anyway for old times' sake. In that sense maybe it was a good role for him.

Sharon Stone is looking good still.

I think I have heard Peter Coyote on some documentaries that he narrated. He has a great voice for narrating tv shows.

Jeff Marzano

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Boring. No suspense. The plot is ridiculous.

This movie is boring. There's no suspense or action. The plot is ridiculous. The special effects are not insteresting.

Save your money on this one. February 24, 2008

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