Subject: Review: Sphere (1998)

From: "Luke Buckmaster" <[email-masked]>
Date: 30 Apr 1998 04:19:50 GMT

REVIEW:  Sphere (1998)

by Luke Buckmaster

2 and a half stars out of 5

It may surprise some people to know that Berry Levinson, the director who
brought us Donnie Brasco and Wag the Dog, has ventured into Stephen Spielberg
territory with one of Michael Crichtons less known novels  Sphere.

After the opening credits we are hastily introduced to Dr. Norman Goodman
(Dustin Hoffman), a calm psychologist with an intellect and common sense that
more than matches the specialists around him.  Unfortunately, his credibility
isnt always dependable.  In the 1980s Norman sold the government a top-secret
report explaining what to do if alien life was ever encountered.  Also on the
report were the names of biochemist Beth Halperin (Sharon Stone), mathematician
Harry Adams (Samuel L. Jackson) and astrophysicist Ted Fielding (Liey
Schreiber).  The problem is, the report was hastily put together because Norman
needed the cash  and borrowed material from famous writers to meet his needs.

So when a three hundred year old alien vessel is found buried deep in the ocean,
Normans report is followed like a bible.  Much to his surprise, all of people
he specified (as well as himself) are gathered together and sent to investigate
this mysterious ship.  But, as would be predicted in this sort of film, when
they are stuck hundreds of meters below the surface things start to go wrong.

A funny little character called Jerry, based inside the vessels computers, pops
up and begins to create chaos for Norman and his crew.  But all is not what it
seems, and as the film delves into the psychological aspects of its characters,
tension begins to rise and things start to hot up.

In quality and concept, Sphere is much like last years Event Horizon.  They both
created interest from the audience, but when they had it they failed to do
anything original or engaging with it  and at times its incredibly annoying to
be witness a potentially great film resort to using clichi characters and
confrontations.

Its interesting to note that the vast percentage of Spheres footage has three
of the same characters appear on the screen - and whilst this is not necessarily
a bad thing, if limited amounts of characters are going to successfully hold the
audiences attention they really need to be something special.  In this case,
they certainly are not  Norman somehow seems to be the most intelligent even
though he asks the stupidest questions, the ships commander Barnes Barnes (Peter
Coyote) is the diplomatic dork that no body likes, and Samuel L. Jacksons
character serves as an excuse to whip up some amusing dialogue.  So even though
Sphere doesnt produce the most rewarding characters, its great fun to see them
all shoved into situations that have more to do with common sense rather than
PHDs.

Yes  Sphere succeeds as a not-to-be-taken-seriously film, but this is not what
Levinson was after. Psychological thriller it should have been  but
psychological mediocrity it is.

I would love to announce Event Horizon and Sphere as great films  heck, I enjoy
so many things about them  but they both get so bogged down in a sea of Weve
this his all before material that they hardly become a worthwhile experience.
But this isnt the main thing that bothers me  being Sci Fi movies, these two
films lost sight of what they should have achieved  rather than thrilling the
audience, they merely scare the audience.

But on the up side, Sphere is a treat to watch and the special effects are
appropriately impressive. I can not, however, forgive it for watering down such
a spectacular concept into a pedestrian (and very Hollywood) flavor.

As for the three dependable actors  Hoffman, Jackson and Stone  they do look
great together, and Sharon especially is certain to arouse male interest with a
notably tight singlet/shirt. But at the end of the day, when these three people
are resorted to driving a film stuck in neutral, one must wonder why Jim Carey
or Mike Myers werent cast as the alien vessels comic reliefs.  At least then
we could laugh at them, and not the film.

As it so happens, the day after I saw Sphere I watched Basic Instinct on TV.
And lets just say, Sharon Stones vessels were moving much more appealingly in
the later film.

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