Excellent but underrated film

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

A largely disappointing thriller adapted from a book by Michael Crichton, which is both overlong and boring at times, although not totally without merit. The film starts off well with the initial underwater exploration of the alien craft, and the sphere itself, a most impressive creation. Sadly after this set-up, it seems that nobody really knew where to go, so instead it becomes standard run-of-the-mill fare with the members of the undersea station getting bumped off one by one (although the varied deaths, including jellyfish attack, fire, etc. are impressive and well-staged). The confusing storyline involves the alien sphere channelling people's unconscious thoughts and fears and bringing them to life, thus turning everybody on each other and killing themselves. It sounds more exciting than it is.The big budget is impressive, both in the underwater visuals and special effects, which are limited and kept to a minimum rather than over the top as per usual. The photography is interesting, the sets varied, and the action, when it occurs, is accompanied by an old-fashioned music score which adds to the excitement. Sadly, for the most part the film just sort of meanders on with not much occurring and nobody getting any closer to discovering the truth.Dustin Hoffman is good, as expected, as the lead, although his heart doesn't seem to be in it. Sharon Stone is merely adequate as the female crew member, sometimes embarrassing when she supposedly loses it. Samuel L. Jackson is once again excellent as the first crew member to go inside the sphere, who may or may not be a villain; his edgy turn is one of the film's highlights. Liev Schreiber is a pretty ineffectual although likable scientist who doesn't seem to figure much. Peter Coyote has a minor role as an official who gets trapped in a closing door and cut in two (like in DEEP STAR SIX). Rapper Queen Latifah is unnoticeable in a very minor bit part as a technician.There are some effective scares, like the arrival of the giant squid, plus the genuinely scary attacks by water snakes which lunge at the camera. Also some nice touches, like the book that Jackson reads that's blank after page 87 (probably the cleverest bit of the film). Sadly the long-expected ending is rushed and a disappointment, relying on that old, old cliché of a bomb timer ticking down as the participants rush to escape, and culminating in a huge explosion that looks nice but seems to be a weak way of tying up all the loose ends. Although SPHERE has its moments, it's undoubtedly a bad film, a flop that had people staying away from the cinema in droves. I would recommend it only to the most dedicated sci-fi fan who might get a few thrills from it and doesn't mind wasting a couple of hours in the process.

... it would be Sphere which came out just a year later. Both movies are about a group of scientists who want to investigate a spacecraft which came out of nowhere and seems to have some kind of psychological effect on them, so that they get paranoid, or even turn on each other.The main reason Sphere does a way better job with this kind of plot, is the script. There is so much more to work with for the actors and the audience, so that it's a way more engaging mystery about what's really happening. I don't just want to compare these two movies, because that would be unfair, because a film has to stand on it's own, but let's just say, Sphere has none of the weaknesses which the other movie tried to overcompensate with cheap jump scares and gore.Now on to the real Review: Sphere is a very well made psychological- science-fiction-movie.The photography is very effective in creating an underwater setting which is unsettling and claustrophobic, and the lighting creates the perfect atmosphere. Also the editing helps do give the movie a sometimes dream-like- quality which seems weird at first, because some scenes seem to have no real conclusion and jump in time, but that's exactly the kind of feeling you supposed to feel. The special effects do their job and never distract you from what's going on.As I said is this movie very psychological and that's where the actors come into play. All of them do a great job in bringing their characters to life, especially Dustin Hoffman who holds this movie together. All in all i think Sphere is a fairly underrated film, which delivers what it set out to deliver...

Sphere was a surprise. I wasn't expecting it to be in my top 10 because of such low ratings on IMDb. A lot of people were disappointed by the ending, but for me, that was the best part. It's full of surprises, you can never guess what's coming next! I've already watched it around 10 times, and I'll make sure that my kids do too or I'll disown them. Although I'm pretty sure that not everyone is going to rate it so highly, but my first viewing experience was amazing and maybe that influenced me to give it such a high rating. (I won't disown my kids, I'll be disappointed) I admit the review is biased, but I love this movie so much!

Michael Crichton, a science-fiction novelist and screenplay writer for several of his own adaptations has had many of his ideas become successful and iconic pieces in cinema. The best of Mr. Crichton's work is by far everyone's favorite prehistoric predator film, Jurassic Park (1993). That and Westworld (1973) twenty years before. There's something about Crichton's work that has many of the same motifs that show up in a lot of his other written works. One of the most notable elements is the discovery of a new science by humans and it ends up becoming more than humanity can handle. Re-emphasizing this again is in this Crichton adaptation that went largely unnoticed. Was it because it was bad? No but as a final product, there's a lot left to be desired with this sci- fi thriller.The story to this movie is about a group of doctors in different fields that travel to the bottom of the ocean to analyze a UFO that has something mysterious inside. The mysterious plot device that's inside the ship is a giant perfectly shaped golden sphere. After visiting it, strange things begin occurring on the ship and it's up to the small crew to figure it out. Directed by Barry Levinson (who has produced other Crichton adaptations) shows that he has competent direction in how he wanted the story to play out. Yet his pair of writers didn't seem to know how to make it work to the fullest extent. The writers on board for this production were Stephen Hauser (which was his only credit) and Paul Attanasio. Both of which flesh out the characters and do create some high-strung tension scenes with minor psychological elements but when it comes to explaining the orb, they miss it almost entirely.The underwater crew is made up of Dustin Hoffman (a psychiatrist), Sharon Stone (a biochemist), Samuel L. Jackson (a mathematician) and Liev Schreiber (a doctor in physics) and two operators; Peter Coyote and Queen Latifah. Of these characters, only Latifah (who has a minor role) seemed slightly out of place; all the rest act fine in their roles. That means distinctive personalities and charms. The actor who viewers would probably find the most likable is Hoffman who has a knack for being mostly nonchalant through each situation he's put into. I guess shrinks are supposed to be this calm? Not sure, but it gives him the right amount of charm. The connection these characters have is that they were all associated with Hoffman's role. Funny how popular 80s singer Huey Lewis even had a small scene stealing moment at the beginning of the movie. Random but a treat.The sphere plot device is also a treat when things start rolling (pardon the pun). However, this is exactly when the problems begin to arise. In order for strange events to happen, there's got to be reasons to back up and justify these moments. For this case, there is only one explanation given amongst a slew of other questions that go unanswered. One thing that really threw me off was when Hoffman's character discovers a cabinet worth of a specific item. Who stocked that thing? I could see if it was a mind game or hallucination but it was for real. Tell me who had the time to do that? I have to admit, moments like those will keep its audience guessing and with Hoffman's character being a shrink, the psychological aspect to the film does help make the tenseness quite intellectual. The only problem is that parts of it only theorized possible reasons but never gave definitive solutions. These of which were all based on observation.The only other negative part to the presentation of this movie is how it deliberately splits up its acts into chapters. There is no need, for two reasons. One being that, the audience will figure out when the next act is because each "chapter" if you want to call it that fades out to black. The other reason is that giving a title for the next sequence can somewhat spoil the upcoming surprising scene that audiences may not see coming. Instead, audiences are presented with giant bold print stating exactly what's headed their way. Why go through the trouble of shooting yourself in the foot like that? But enough on that, the last bits of the film still work in its favor. This belongs to the cinematography shot by Adam Greenberg (The Terminator (1984) and Rush Hour (1998)) and the music composed by Elliot Goldenthal. Since Greenberg has been the director of photography before for bigger projects, he shows that can effectively conceal the illusion during the underwater scenes. As for music, Goldenthal who isn't always the most memorable actually surprises this time. That means creating themes for certain aspects of the film, which includes creepy piano keys and quite wondrous sounding strings. It really stuck.The film has competent acting, cinematography, music, interesting psychological elements thrown in and some tense thrills. However, the writing sorely lacks in clearing up much of the plot device that is directly involved in the story other than giving a small assumption only based on observation. That and the chapter segments are a bit unnecessary.