Sphere (1998)

Somehow Sphere has remained as a criminally overlooked sci-fi film while it is actually one of the most interesting ones of the past three decades. This is a film with truly ambitious ideas and philosophically it throws some truly puzzling questions to us in the audience. It is also the best film that director Barry Levinson has made so far in his career. So why all the hostile criticism is beyond me?

For me Sphere has always remained as a fascinating film experience. I love the way it toys with certain ideas and i like the way it goes beyond any genre definitions. While it is closest to science fiction it still has some elements of psychological thriller and even a supernatural horror in it. If there is a flaw in here it quite obviously is the fact that it takes a bit too much time from this film to get where it is heading to. There are some pointless elements that excist only to distract us. With more trimming from Levinson and his writers and they could have a masterpiece in their hands. Sphere is still two of the thirds great film and i do admire it.

It is not often to see film this ambitious coming from a major studio. The way this film toys with our expectations and how it misleads us is downright genius. As it goes along the plot gets more complicated and it all becomes resembling more like a feverish dream. "What and who can we trust?" is the main question in the heads of the film's characters and we in the audience sense that same feel of paranoia brilliantly. Barry Levinson surely knows how to toy with his audience and at times he shows true mastery here.

Sphere has stood time very well and it still is effective film with fantastic effects. Elliot Goldenthal also composed one of his best scores for this film, and with his contribution to this film casts a spellbinding atmosphere that never let you off the hook. When it comes to acting Sphere is a blast. Leading trio, Dustin Hoffman, Samuel L. Jackson and Sharon Stone, are all brilliant and especially Hoffman give us one of his best performances ever on a screen. Liev Schreiber and Peter Coyote must be also mentioned from their strong supporting roles.

There is one very interesting aspect in Sphere and that is it's resemblance of film called Event Horizon, directed by Paul W.S. Anderson in 1997. They both share same ideas and elements, but it is important to know that Michael Crichton's book, Sphere, which Levinson's film is based on, was published in 1987. So while Event Horizon may have got released earlier it still seems that director Anderson and his writers were possibly borrowing material from Crichton and not vice versa. But to even mention Sphere and Event Horizon in a same sentence feels a bit odd. They are completely different kind of films in the end. Sphere challanges you to actually think while Event Horizon is pure entertainment and is much more closer to an pure horror-film.

Overall i find it quite a sad that film this good got so negative reception from critics and audiences. I think Sphere is a little gem among the science fiction films and deserves to be seen. Maybe in future it will find more followers and even gains more reputation as a one of the great sci-fi films which it truly is.