Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Samuel L. Jackson, and Sharron Stone
Produced and Directed by Barry Levinson
I don't know why I go to see a movie after I have already read the book. I am always dissapointed, and this time wasn't any different.
Discovering the Sphere
Sphere is, in my opinion, Michael Crichton's best novel. And those of you who are familiar with his work know that he writes with a lot of detail; the kind of detail that is impossible for a movie to completely adhere to. And yet, for some reason, I am still disappointed when that detail is not there. Nevertheless, Sphere is a good science fiction movie.
The basic plot is this: A huge spaceship has been found deep under the Pacific Ocean. What's more, it has been down there for almost three hundred years. Because of this the government figures it is probably an alien ship; therefore they bring in a team of leading scientists who would be best to encounter this new species. Psychologist Dr. Norman Goodman (Dustin Hoffman), mathematician Harry Adams (Samuel L. Jackson), biochemist Beth Halperin (Sharon Stone), and astrophysicist Ted Fielding (Liev Fielding) make up the team that is to go 1000 feet under the ocean to investigate this spaceship.
Dustin Hoffman, Samual L. Jackson,
and Liev Schreiber chilling inside the habitat
When they get into the ship and begin searching around, they discover a perfect sphere floating in one of the ship's rooms which is unlike anything anyone has ever seen. Shortly after this discovery they begin receiving communications from an entity name Jerry through there computer. As they talk with Jerry more and more, stranger and more dangerous things begin happening to their group... such as one of the Navy crewman running the habitat is killed by some "super" jellyfish... and then the habitat is attacked by a giant skid. Eventually they discover that... wait a minute, I can't really tell you anymore. The rest you will have to find out for yourself.
This movie is very well done, with good acting, good characters and a good plot, which come together for the first big time Sci-Fi flick of the year. However, as I said earlier, it doesn't compare with the book... it seemed to me that they skipped over some key points in the book that really hinder the flow of the story. But, if you haven't read the book it probably seems much better. Overall it is definitely a movie worth seeing.
Rating:3 out of 5 stars (If you haven't read the book, it is more like 3 1/2 out of 5)
