Rating: 
Summary: Intelligent and hugely underrated!
Review: I personally thought 'Sphere' was a good movie. It offers a fair share of suspense, action, good special effects and interesting characters. What more could you ask for? Oh, how about an all-star cast...well, it has that too.The basic premise of the movie is that a 300 year old space ship was found at the bottom of the ocean and a team of specialists are assembled to investigae it. The specialists include a psychologist (Dustin Hoffman), a biologist (Sharon Stone), a physicist (Liev Schrieber), a mathematician (Samuel Jackson), led by the seemingly fearless military force (Peter Coyote). They soon discover a gold sphere inside the huge ship, that possesses special powers that transform thoughts into reality. Sounds good...well, not when the characters can only conjur up the most horrific nightmares imaginable. The ride that the viewer is taken on is an equal mix of reality and fantasy, but you can never really tell what is and is not imagined. While I fully appreciate that this is not an original concept (read Solaris and you'll see what I mean) it is still an interesting concept. This film forces the viewer to actually think instead of being led along by the hand, while the plot smacks you in the face, like SO many movies (sci-fi or otherwise). The movie, for the most part, is fast paced and filled with a sense of foreboding (although it does miss a beat or two in a few places). Our heroes are not that at all, and we find ourselves not only rooting but relating to these characters. What a nice change of pace to have tragically flawed and multi-faceted characters instead of the garbage that is passed off these days. After all, some of us are bored with kick-boxing and explosions. Stone's performance is noteworthy because she makes her character seem neurotic and reasonable all at the same time. We can't really trust her, yet she may be making the most sense. Jackson's portrayal of Harry is absolutely chilling and right on the money. Hoffman as the ever-reasonable and supportive psychologist, lacks the ability to doubt his own sense of reality, making his character the weakest, yet seemingly the strongest. They start the journey as 'elite specialists' , the all-knowing, all-seeing gods of their respective fields. They banter back and forth about their intelligence, education and preparedness for this quest, yet their intelligence and education cannot save them from their own limitations as humans. Their humanity is what nearly destroys them and ultimately saves them in the end. You have to really watch this with an open mind and try to focus on character interplay to really appreciate this movie. No, it isn't perfect, but it is entertaining and intelligent...a rarity these days. If you aren't willing to actually THINK as you go along, then I recommend a Steven Segal movie.
Rating: 
Summary: One to avoid!
Review: I like science fiction. Good science fiction. That means, amongst other things, that the initial premise, however hard to believe, is pursued to its logical endpoint. This film, however, starts with an interesting scenario, runs the gamut of B-movie horror cliches to a totally predictable revelation, and winds things up with one of the worst excuses for a contrived cop-out ending that I have ever seen. Most inexcusable of all, none of the interesting questions raised at the beginning of the film is explored at all. A major-league stinker, justifying plastic surgery and federal witness protection for all involved.
Rating:
Summary: Could've been great....but wasn't!
Review: The first 15-20 minutes of the movie was entertaining. Then it all went to hell. It seemed to me that Crichten slapped a bunch of random ideas together and made it into what barely passed as a story. The pacing was awful and sporadic, with little dramatic build-up. There was hardly any definitive direction, which took a decent concept and flushed it right down the toilet. All in all, I couldn't recommend this movie to ANYONE.
Rating: 
Summary: Awsome Film
Review: Great film, Jackson's character is so disturbing. Cool idea and an awsome movie!
Rating:
Summary: Deja vu! Very poor!
Review: This movie started out well with promise of being an intriguing sci-fi. Unfortunately, the interest soon wore off and it became apparent that "Sphere" is just a repackaged version of various other alien orientated movies. It's "Abyss", "Alien" and "2001" thrown together with a couple of different actors. We have a spaceship at the bottom of the ocean and there is something malevolant on board that starts to manipulate the crew. Yawn! It drags on and on and on with characters doing things for no particular reason. Why did Jackson enter the giant gold golf ball from outer space on a whim? Why, seeing what it had done to Jackson did Hoffmann follow him...and hang on! What was Hoffmann doing in this rubbish anyway? I mean you can see the other maronic actors taking the job but why dear old Dustin? He must have a severe gambling debt, or something! This film didn't require his talent!!! However it was adequately suited to Stone's and jackson's lack thereof! There is supposed to be some interesting "past" for Stone and Hoffman but it just doesn't work in the film. It is not intriguing and after the two or so hors when it reaches it's climax, you are asleep anyway. This is a very poor movie. OK, so it has "effects" but which movie these days doesn't. That means it deserves nothing above a 1 star. Give this one a miss!
Rating:
Summary: Don't waste your time
Review: This movie is just plain old bad -- no logical plot, and derivative and stupid subplots (Samuel L. Jackson going whacko is a straight ripoff from another movie) designed to distract you from realizing there IS NO plot, etc. The only fun thing was the airplane cockpit, but it was gone in 60 seconds.... There are some fun "C" movies -- this isn't one of them!
Rating:
Summary: Suspenseful, thrilling, and intelligent.
Review: Like last year's Mission to Mars, Sphere features a great cast, an intriguing premise, and some truly great suspense sequences. Both were also ripped by the critics, but if you want thrilling sci-fi, Sphere is a great choice. This is easily Michael Crichton's best adaptation to date.
Rating:
Summary: Under rated
Review: I don't understand why the movie got such bad reviews; it is suspenseful, has a great cast of characters, and has a nice plot. A few part were a little lame, but I defiantly suggest this movie.
Rating:
Summary: "Scary and Intriguing"
Review: The adaption of Michael Crichton's novel "Sphere" to the big screen was a modest success and certainly delivered more than many were expecting. No movie has ever involved a giant radioactive ball with intelligent life inside. The special effects are very good, and it reminds me of some of those old, classic science-fiction comic books. There are various fascinating looking creatures. It is really hard to describe why this is such a good movie; it has a lot to do with the atmosphere. A group of "one in a thousand" scientific genius' meet to observe a political and scientific phenomenon. It is very interesting and sometimes scary. The acting for Dustin Hoffman is very professional and Samuel L. Jackson was made for these kinds of movies. GREAT
Rating:
Summary: Another Solaris rip-off
Review: One of the other reviews said "I like the idea behind this movie." Well, here you go: The idea behind both this movie (as well as "Event Horizon") and the Michael Crichton book is the concept put forth in the much greater Stanislaw Lem novel "Solaris". If Lem cared more about bothering to deal with American pop-culture "creators" he could most definitely sue the authors and makers of the various blatant rip-offs of his works. If you don't know what I'm talking about then read "Solaris" or see the Andrei Tartofsky film adaptation (of which "Event Horizon" in particular is a complete rip-off.) Lem has been an unattributed source of a lot of ideas that Hollywood has gussied up, even though his works are quite brilliant enough in themselves. "The Matrix" is another prime example. It was a very fun flick, but anyone who thinks the concept, and even a lot of the specific details, were original simply must read Lem's splendid and hilarious 1968 novel "The Futurological Congress."
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