Sphere Reviews
January 1, 2000
Sphere is a film full of potential and fascinating ideas, enmeshed in a sea of confusion. With its high profile cast going through the motions, Sphere has its moments, but they never gel to create the masterful film it could have been.
January 1, 2000
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
| Original Score: 1.5/4
January 1, 2000
A run-of-the-mill fantasy, competently produced but disappointingly familiar.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/4
January 1, 2000
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
| Original Score: 1.5/4
January 1, 2000
Long before Sphere dithers to its forgettable climax it's become as flat as a pancake.
January 1, 2000
I've seen Alien, and I've seen The Abyss -- hence, I had already seen Sphere.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/10
January 1, 2000
Somewhere out there, maybe there's a small cadre of film-goers who will appreciate Sphere's dubious charms, but I'm not among them.
Full Review
| Original Score: 1.5/4
January 1, 2000
It takes every trick in the book of undersea filmmaking to try to make Sphere interesting to the mainstream.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/5
January 1, 2000
Even though they lose it somewhat in end, the film has so much intelligence and energy than it is well worth seeing.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
January 1, 2000
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
| Original Score: 1/4
January 1, 2000
It was a valiant effort, but in the end it was too unfocused to make a good story.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2.5/4
January 1, 2000
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.
February 13, 1998
Full Review
| Original Score: D