Sphere
SPHERE (15)
D: Barry Levinson
Warner Bros./Baltimore/Constant/Punch (Michael Crichton,
Andrew Wald & Barry Levinson)
US 1998
133 mins
Science Fiction/Thriller
W: Stephen Hauser & Paul Attanasio [based on the novel
by Michael Crichton]
DP: Adam Greenberg
Ed: Stu Linder
Mus: Elliott Goldenthal
PD: Norman Reynolds
Dustin Hoffman (Dr. Norman Goodman), Sharon Stone (Dr.
Beth Halperin), Samuel L. Jackson (Dr. Harry Adams), Peter Coyote (Capt. Harold C. Barnes), Liev Schreiber (Dr. Ted Fielding), Queen Latifah (Alice 'Teeny' Fletcher)
A team of scientists are deployed deep beneath the ocean
to investigate a mysterious metal orb which may or may not be of extra-terrestrial origin.
The filmmakers missed a huge trick while adapting Michael
Crichton's novel, perhaps because they didn't understand it, or more likely because they were lazy and just wanted to follow the exact same formula which was used in 1989's The Abyss
(qv).
The performances are all poorly miscast, including Dustin
Hoffman, who actually seemed like a good fit for the character on paper, but is suffers hugely from misdirection, as did the movie itself which was amongst 1998's biggest box office
failures.
Skip the film, read the book instead. All meaning and
intelligence is lost here.
3/10
