Sphere Review
by Ben Hoffman (bhoffman AT ix DOT netcom DOT com)February 26th, 1998
SPHERE
It has happened before and will happen again. Nevertheless, it seems always to come as a surprise when a film that boasts such fine actors as Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone, and Samuel L Jackson, can be so ordinary.
Although Michael Crighton's book was a best seller, it must have lost a lot when it was brought to the big screen. This Science Fiction story is of a something wicked that resides deep in the ocean. It can read your mind; it can capitalize on your worst fears so that you behave differently than you ordinarily would let anyone see.
Dr Norman Goodman (Hoffman), a psychologist, gets a mysterious summons from the government and taken to somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. There he is met by an old girlfriend, Beth Halperin, (Stone) a biochemist and Harry Adams (Jackson), a mathematician . In charge of the mission is Barnes (Peter Coyote). Their mission, as they used to say on Mission Impossible, is to investigate a huge spaceship that appears to have been lying on the ocean's floor for some 300 years.
Equipped with massive bathyspheres capable of descending into the ocean's depths, the members of the team begin their explorations.. As is de rigueur in filmmaking these days, the special effects play a large part in the film. Unfortunately, they are rather on the dull side. For that matter, so are the non-special effects.
Inside the spaceship is a large sphere whose meaning no one seems to fathom. But once under the surface, their latent fears (claustrophobia and subconscious terrors) make their appearance, With the oxygen supply running low, there is an urgency to find out what the sphere is all about but in their confusion and haste the scientists begin to do battle, to rebel against their fellow-explorers. Despite Barry Levinson, the film seems to go nowhere.
Directed by Barry Levinson
1.5 Bytes
4 Bytes = Superb
3 Bytes = Too good to miss
2 Bytes = Average
1 Byte = Save your money
Copyright 1998 Ben Hoffman
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
