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Sphere

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Sphere (1998)

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Reviews Counted:48

Fresh:6

Rotten:42

Average Rating:4/10

Consensus: Sphere features an A-level cast working with B-grade material, with a story seen previously in superior science-fiction films.

Runtime: 2 hrs 32 mins

Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy

Synopsis: When psychologist Norman Goodman (Dustin Hoffman) wrote a report for the government on how to deal with extraterrestrial life forces, he didn't expect his recommendations to be used. Now that a... When psychologist Norman Goodman (Dustin Hoffman) wrote a report for the government on how to deal with extraterrestrial life forces, he didn't expect his recommendations to be used. Now that a secret government agency is investigating what may be an alien spaceship that has been discovered partially buried on the floor of the Pacific Ocean, Norman finds that the plan he outlined is being put into effect and that the team he named in his report has been assembled. In addition to Norman, there is Harry Adams (Samuel L. Jackson), a mathematician; Ted Fielding (Liev Schreiber), a physicist; and Beth Halperin (Sharon Stone), a biochemist and Norman's old flame. Led by the secretive Barnes (Peter Coyote), the foursome undergoes a crash course in diving and living under the sea in a naval habitat and begins investigating the mysterious vessel, discovering a huge glowing sphere made of an unidentifiable substance with a shimmering, almost liquidlike surface. As the investigation continues, a series of strange, horrific events leads the team of scientists to doubt each other's sanity and motives. The film is based on the best-selling novel by Michael Crichton. [More]

Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone, Samuel L. Jackson, Peter Coyote

Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone, Samuel L. Jackson, Peter Coyote, Liev Schreiber, Queen Latifah, Marga Gomez, Huey Lewis, Michael Keys Hall, Bernard Hocke, James Pickens

Director: Barry Levinson

Director: Barry Levinson
Producer: Barry Levinson, Michael Crichton, Andrew Wald
Story: Michael Crichton
Screenwriter: Kurt Wimmer, Stephen Hauser, Paul Attanasio
Composer: Elliot Goldenthal

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Jul 14, 1998

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Reviews for Sphere

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1 - 20 (sorted by source)
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Let's face facts: Michael Crichton is a hack. He comes up with innovative concepts, but his characters are cardboard cutouts. Given the psychological foundations of the story, that's an egregious flaw, and the ending is absurdly dissatisfying.

comment Comment
08/12/03
Carlo Cavagna
Carlo Cavagna
AboutFilm.com

Sphere is a high concept, overly calculated, expensive, long, badly written, and terribly concluded waste of time.

Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
01/01/00
Rob Macdonald
Rob Macdonald
Apollo Guide

Basically, what Sphere delivers is a mediocre Outer Limits TV script resting atop a massive, needlessly complex superstructure of overplotting, high-dollar f/x and banal head games.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
01/01/00
Russell Smith
Russell Smith
Austin Chronicle

Long before Sphere dithers to its forgettable climax it's become as flat as a pancake.

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
01/01/00
Peter Keough
Peter Keough
Boston Phoenix

Sphere is not trashy, or silly, or exploitative; a lot of talent has been used to good effect here. But in the final analysis, fine filmmaking cannot overcome mediocre material.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
06/05/02
Cathy Thompson-Georges
Cathy Thompson-Georges
Boxoffice Magazine

The only excellence is in the acting, and even then the screenplay puts the characters through so many U-turns that dramatic momentum is impossible.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
01/01/00
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A run-of-the-mill fantasy, competently produced but disappointingly familiar.

Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor | comment Comment
01/01/00
David Sterritt
David Sterritt
Christian Science Monitor

You can't accuse the makers of Sphere of skimping on talent. If only they knew what to do with it.

Full Review Source: Cincinnati Enquirer | comment Comment
10/15/02
Margaret A. McGurk
Margaret A. McGurk
Cincinnati Enquirer

It is an annoying and distracting movie, where the actors lose all of their prospect for existing, and the story loses all faith in the material and gives up just as it seems to begin.

Full Review Source: Cinemaphile.org | comment Comment
01/01/00
David Keyes
David Keyes
Cinemaphile.org

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Cinematter | comment Comment
01/01/00
Madeleine Williams
Madeleine Williams
Cinematter

We snuck guiltily into the almost-empty theatre, already prepared to hate it. But we were ill prepared, all the same...We have nothing to sphere but Sphere itself.

Full Review Source: Cinerina | comment Comment
06/14/01
Karina Montgomery
Karina Montgomery
Cinerina

The central idea for Sphere is an intriguing one, but similar concepts have been much better executed on episodes of Star Trek, which makes one wonder why movie writing is allowed to be so bad.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
05/26/06
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

Making yet again the mistake that more is more, director Barry Levinson piles on the concepts with such increasing rapidity that clarity takes a back seat to spectacle, and believability is stretched to the breaking point.

Full Review Source: Compuserve | comment Comment
01/01/00
Harvey S. Karten
Harvey S. Karten
Compuserve

Sphere yearns to be a philosophical epic but it's final and only edict is so rudimentary as to barely exist: man is not yet 'ready' either intellectually or emotionally for the gifts E.T.'s are willing to share with us.

Full Review Source: Critics Inc./America Online | comment Comment
01/02/03
Brandon Judell
Brandon Judell
Critics Inc./America Online

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Dark Horizons | comment Comment
03/14/05
Garth Franklin
Garth Franklin
Dark Horizons

Michael Crichton, author of Sphere, co-produced the messy, convoluted version of his best seller, which starts out promisingly enough but soon gets bogged down with bad exposition and cliched dialogue.

Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
01/01/00
Jeff Vice
Jeff Vice
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Detroit News | comment Comment
01/01/00
Susan Stark
Susan Stark
Detroit News
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
01/01/00
E! Online

Decent performances and an abundance of good ideas and effects but there is definitely a lack of pace to the dramatic tension and you may find yourself just not caring.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
01/01/00
Jeff Dawson
Jeff Dawson
Empire Magazine

If you want a better sci-fi film go see Dark City. A better Levinson movie? Try Wag the Dog.

Full Review Source: Film Blather | comment Comment
05/22/03
Eugene Novikov
Eugene Novikov
Film Blather
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by source)
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Latest News for Sphere

November 05, 2008: Michael Crichton Passes Away (1942-2008)
Best-selling author, screenwriter, and director Michael Crichton has passed away at the age of 66. The medical doctor-turned-filmmaker was best known for writing... More...

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