Sphere DVD: Review By stevegibbs

Psychologist Norman Goodman (Dustin Hoffman) and a hand-picked technical team are flown to the remote site of a spaceship crash. Since the 1/2-mile long ship is on the ocean floor, over 1,000 feet down, the team soon find themselves in a military undersea habitat just yards away. They are amazed to discover that the crash occurred almost 300 years before. And even more surprised to learn that there is something still 'alive' inside the craft.

Back on the surface, a tropical storm is brewing (shades of Jurassic Park?), trapping our intrepid researchers on the seabed without help. As a series of inexplicable events take over, the list of survivors becomes smaller and smaller.

Shaping the Sphere: visual effects featurette

A brief but interesting overview of the different effects used in the movie. It shows the integration of live action, green screen, models and CGI elements into the major action sequences. Not a bad intro to effects for the casual viewer.

Cast and crew biographies

History of science fiction films

A summary of the evolution of sci-fi, from the Lumiere brothers' silent space travel classic up to the making of Sphere. Quite well written.

Theatrical trailer and TV spots

Audio commentary with Dustin Hoffman and Samuel L. Jackson

I must confess that, while Dustin Hoffman is a great actor, the idea of over 2 hours of commentary by Rain Man left me a little cold.

Presented in 2.35:1 widescreen. A fairly good transfer to disk with a crisp picture. The ocean scenes are a little too dark for my liking, although I suppose close to conditions at that ocean depth. However, I wanted to see more of the size and shape of the crashed ship. Glimpses are brief and tantalizing, mostly involving one large fin or wing. I suspect that darkness and obscurity were used to mask shortfalls in the production.

The 5.1 Dolby Digital track is very clear, and good use is made of surround capabilities during the suspense scenes. The creepy creaking and tapping sounds seem to come from all over the underwater habitat.

Sphere was the first Michael Crichton novel I ever read. I loved it and was excited to hear it was to become a movie. But as much as I like Dustin Hoffman, Samuel L. Jackson and director Barry Levinson, Sphere the motion picture was a big disappointment.

Don't get me wrong: it's not a horrible movie. It's just nowhere near as good as it could have been. I think the novel was the movie's own worst enemy, packed with pages of detail essential to the plot. The screenwriters obviously struggled to keep as many of those elements in as possible, while ramping up and giving time to the action scenes. What they ended up with was a very rushed and disconnected sequence of events. There's no time for the characters to gain any sympathy before things start going bump in the night.

Two major complaints I have about Sphere involve slight spoilers. Don't read the rest of this paragraph before watching the movie (if, indeed, you do intend to watch it). One of the most exciting scenes in the novel involves a giant squid attack. I could hardly wait to see this onscreen. Imagine my disappointment when the only evidence of the creature is a large blip on the radar screen and the set being shaken about. What a complete cop out! To add insult to injury, Levinson has to tack on a gratuitous effects shot at the end of the movie. Instead of the sphere remaining a mystery, the movie ends with the massive golden orb rising out of the ocean and shooting off into space in full view of dozens of military personnel. This may not seem to be a big deal, but it does tend to undermine the whole resolution of the story. Okay, I'm done griping.

Overall, you could do worse than watching Sphere. But you could also do a lot better. Sphere doesn't exactly shine.