Sphere

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Sphere

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Sphere

Bernard Hocke, Dustin Hoffman, Huey Lewis, James Pickens Jr., Liev Schreiber

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...( read more  read more... ) 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

Id: 9056033

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Sphere Recent Reviews
  • stopitgoaway
    December 6, 2009
    stopitgoaway
    When the military discover what they believe to be a spaceship at the bottom of the ocean they bring in Dr Norman Goodman who had once written a report on the protocol for an alien encounter. His report had named a team of experts ? this team is also assembled. The team descend t...( read more)o the craft and begin to find some astonishing things about the craft. However when they find a huge golden sphere they begin to experience problems. Problems that become worse when a storm traps them at the bottom of the ocean.

    With a cast like this ? you gotta have high hopes. With a director and a writer to match you deserve something fantastic! And for the most part this delivers. The build up is dark, mysterious and exciting. However once the sphere is found it goes downhill. It still has some really good moments ? the jellyfish bit is scary and other actions bits are cool. But it gets all muddled up in what the sphere is and who is doing what on the base. It almost manages to hold together until the final half hour then it all just collapses like a flan in a cupboard! It's a shame because for the most part it felt like it was building to something much better, but no.

    The cast promised much but didn't deliver. Jackson was great, but I don't think he can be bad ? even in a bad movie. Hoffman stutters around like he doesn't know what he's doing. I know he's meant to be playing a character that isn't used to heroics, but he doesn't bring anything. Stone is OK but at times looks like she reading her lines off a board. Coyote is good and Schreiber is understated by his own hammy standards. It's also cool to see Queen Latifah in a role.

    Overall this is worth watching as for the majority it's real good. However you notice that the film has got 30 minutes left to go ? make your excuses and leave, by then you've seen the best it has to offer.
  • SirPant
    September 21, 2009
    SirPant
    An enjoyable sci-fi adventure that has its faults but is generally entertaining.
  • ceWEBrity
    October 13, 2008
    ceWEBrity
    Is it possible for something to be so derivative and lifeless that it actually becomes interesting by sheer force of "how the fuck did they manage this?"
  • franktowers
    July 31, 2008
    franktowers
    took me a couple viewings as a kid to understand wtf was going on
  • DragonEyeMorrison
    July 27, 2008
    DragonEyeMorrison
    I barely remember watching this snooze-fest. At least Sharon Stone still looked good in those days.
  • pantalla9
    November 27, 2009
    pantalla9
    No recordaba si había visto Sphere (1998) en el momento de su estreno. Después de haber leído la novela original, escrita por Michael Crichton en 1987, que me ha fascinado por completo (tanto como Jurassic Park), quise ver que tan bien (o mal), le había quedado a Barry Levinson s...( read more)u adaptación al cine. Ha sido una gran decepción. Como suele suceder en las malas adaptaciones de novelas al cine, todo lo mejor del relato de Crichton ha quedado fuera, dando como resultado una descafeinada película de suspenso psicológico, ambientada en las profundidades del océano.

    Sphere, la novela, es un interesante estudio sobre la psique humana, en la forma de una entretenida historia de ciencia ficción. El pretexto es el descubrimiento de la esfera del título, dentro de una nave que se cree extraterrestre, la cual se estrelló en el Océano Pacífico hace 300 años. Lo que hace a esta esfera tan fascinante, tanto en la novela como en la película, es que todo aquel que se ve tentado a entrar en ella sale con el poder de materializar sus pensamientos y emociones, o lo que el psicólogo y especialista en crisis de accidentes aéreos, Norman Johnson (GoodLo más frustrante, es que teniendo una gran historia, un reparto excelente (me olvidé de mencionar a Peter Coyote) y una producción magnífica (las escenas dentro del agua están estupendamente filmadas y los sets logrados), todo se desaprovecha por un guión incluso misógino (en la película Beth es una alcohólica y maniaca con tendencias suicidas), y que ha prescindido, lamentablemente, de la principal estrella de la novela. No me refiero a Norman, quien creo que es uno de los personajes más interesantes que ha creado Crichton, sino al gigantesco calamar, que es una amenaza constante en toda la historia en la base submarina (¿La producción se habrá quedado sin presupuesto para crear un calamar gigante digital?). El calamar aparece escasos minutos, y nada más se ve en los radares y por una pequeña ventana. En la película se apuesta más por un suspenso entre los personajes sobrevivientes. Pero que caso tiene darle un giro a la historia de esta forma, si la adaptación (por cierto, realizada por un tal Kurt Wimmer) es fallida, insustancial y aburrida.
    man en la película), llama la ?sombra?. La ?sombra? es esa parte obscura que vive en nuestro subconsciente, que se alimenta de nuestros sentimientos y emociones más bajos. Algo cercano a lo que Goya describe en uno de sus grabados como ?El sueño de la razón produce monstruos?, que puede ser una de las premisas del libro.
    más en pantallanueve.blogspot.com
  • iSavage
    November 23, 2009
    iSavage
    awesome flick, give me the sphere for a moment. my imagination is well put ogether to make great things happen.
  • TheQueenOfAwesomeness
    November 22, 2009
    TheQueenOfAwesomeness
    psychological thriller starring Dustin Hoffman, Samuel L. Jackson, Sharon Stone, Liev Schreiber and Queen Latifah. based on the 1987 novel of the same name by Michael Crichton. directed by Barry Levinson.

    a psychologist (Hoffman), a biochemist (Stone), a mathematician (Jackson),...( read more) an astrophysicist (Schreiber) and others investigate a large golden sphere deep in the ocean.

    not exactly scary, but creepy in certain parts. pretty good sc-fi thriller.
  • 21rclemente
    November 16, 2009
    21rclemente
    Awesome, excellent, intense... all of the above. Great story which in my opinion follows the plot of The Forbidden Planet ( a 1956, Leslie Neilsen sci-fi flic). Universally well done by cast and director
  • gwilliamsmagic
    November 4, 2009
    gwilliamsmagic
    Disappointing, considering the talent involved.
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