The Sphere, 1998

The Sphere, 1998
Director: Barry Levinson
Cast: Dustin Hoffmann, Sharon Stone, Samuel L. Jackson



Stage: Home theatre, TV selection on a fine Sunday night


The Sphere in short: 1000 feet below the ocean, navy divers discover an object half-a-mile long. A crack team of scientists are deployed to the site in Deepsea Habitats. What they find boggles the mind as they discover a perfect metal sphere. What is the secret behind the sphere? Will they survive the mysterious 'manifestations'? Who or what is creating these? They may never live to find out.


Preps: I have seen this a few times. Every time it gives me shivers. A splendid piece.


Reality: One of last decade's better pieces on extraterrestrial life, time journeys, subconscious fear of machines that can manipulate our mind, journey with scientists (that most of us only dream of).. well, this piece does have a lot of things going for him. In addition, it has a fabulous act, witty scenes and creative dialogues. A good music accompanying most of dreadful and scary scenes. A lot of logic you cannot convey and for this reason you just accept the facts as the scientists introduce them.

Speaking with Jerry, speaking with your subconscious, can be freaky. Being online with an alien mind, speaking to it through the computer, going into spheres, coming out as a complete wacko.. the line doesn't end. And you are thrown into a river that.

"I make a journey. You make a journey. We make a journey together." One of the things that Jerry makes clear to the crew. The point where you wonder if you are speaking to a child or is the child underestimating the speaking party on the deck. He's happy, one of the things that psychologist doesn't appreciate (Dustin Hoffmann in one of his good roles). What if the speaker becomes angry? Well, we see this happen in many different aspects. A lot of weird things happen on the deck, all of them trying to give us the lesson that sometimes we shouldn't poke our nose where it doesn't belong. But this is also the reason we are making progress in many fields, science included. If we all minded our own business, we couldn't progress anywhere. Here the team is prosecuted for doing so and biting their own meat from their bodies (between the members) as they are trying to fight the freaky opponent. How to fight something you don't know or aren't aware of how to fight? Learn in the movie. And find some great scenes along the way, like the one with jello fish and dying because of it.



My personal rate: 8,0 ( You will love the fright you will get several times along the way. And the psychological effect of pure deduction procedures done by brilliant mathematician. A lot of things to find in the piece for you. If you are a sci-fi fan, don't miss it!)


The Sphere on IMDB