Rating: 
Summary: Amazing & Unforgettable
Review: I have seen this movie several times and am in love with it. Solaris has the same haunting, dreamy quality that makes 2001: A Space Odyssey so special, but it's far more intimate and beautiful. Don't expect it to be your standard sci-fi fare with critters and explosions; likewise, don't expect it to be the Lem novel on film. It's an independent work and just thrilling. Each time I watch it (or listen to the score since I also bought the soundtrack CD), I'm drawn into a fantasy realm. I have seen few movies deal with loss in such a provocative and mesmerizing way. Every frame of this movie is gorgeous and the overall achievement superlative--too bad it was badly marketed and that so many people come to it with expectations bound to be dashed.
Rating:
Summary: an excellent film!
Review: I just saw this movie recently. I resisted seeing it because of the bad reviews but I loved it! It isn't slow, its meditative. I have little patience for slow movies. This is not one of them. Although it is a very thought provoking movie, I felt it more than I experienced it intellectually. Unlike most movies of today, it seems to speak to the unconscious more than the conscious. Its not a typical movie. It isn't for everyone but if you like the stillness of meditation and question things metaphysically, you will definitely like this movie. It's the first time I have liked George Clooney's acting. He is superb. I'd like to see him do more unstereotypical roles. It is a difficult film to do well and not many could. Steven Soderberg did an excellent job.
Rating: 
Summary: A film to be seen more than twice
Review: Solaris is not the ordinary Sci Fi, and it is not a film for the ordinary viewer. First, the film plays with viewers almost immediately as the intimacy of the camera work pulls you right into the set. It is like those dreams where you are both dreamer and dreamed. Clooney is superb. I've never seen him work like this, in a loose, almost extemporaneous fashion. The script barely holds clues and so a lot of work is involved for the viewer, which is probably why this film just slips by most people. Physics, with strong references to 2001, and philosophy all play across the dialogue making this a puzzle you will want to come back to over and over again.
Rating: 
Summary: Unbelievably Slow & Boring
Review: One review hails this film as "They don't make Sci Fi films like this any more!" and after about 9 minutes watching you can see why (thankfully). Saying that it is protracted, dull, painfully slow and confusing is probably being kind, as what started out as a "great idea for a movie" has succumb to an over self indulgent directors depiction of a fairly bland screenplay. George Clooney travels to a distant galaxy where he meets his deceased wife via almost tangible flashback sequences and seems to be part of a special mission to discover the meaning of life, or something like it. Unfortunately, when one recalls, or even reads older Sci Fi literature of the type so ground braking by the likes of Isaac Asimov, Phillip K Dick and the like, one thing is painfully obvious. Great Fiction literature lives and flourishes in the subjective imagination of the reader NOT the viewer. And it is incredibly difficult to succesfully make the transition from page to screen without losing a lot in the process. I have not actaully read the book that this movie is based on, but feel sure this depiction will pale in comparison to a probably reasonable, if pulp style story. This will be one I'm sure Mr Clooney will wish to forget in a hurry, and those that can endure it to the final frame, will no doubt feel the same. Avoid!
Rating:
Summary: Great movie.
Review: Firstly:
This is a movie that gets better every time you watch it. Chances are, if you didn't understand this movie, you are stupid [no offense]. I only say this because so many people complain about it being too confusing and random. Perhaps these people never took basic philosophy or even English courses that would help them catch the important clues.
Another complaint that I noticed is that this movie was slow. A lot of people say that. I suppose that they were expecting this to be an Action/Horror sci-fi instead of an intellectual one. Sorry folks: This movie is for thinkin' people and not for the average public-schooled American.Here's are some tips:
-If you don't get the movie, watch it again. Like Fight Club, this tip could help you understand it a lot better so as you can appreciate what's going on.
-If you think it's too slow, stop watching it. You obviously can't handle the movie or any of its messages. The best thing to do is to quickly eject the DVD and replace it with "Predator II", which I am sure is more to your liking.
Rating:
Summary: You'll love it or hate it -- I hated it.
Review: Several other reviews already describe the story line well, so I won't go there. I was bored by the movie. It was slow. The dialogue was often bad. Characters were either bored or annoyed me. There are some interesting and thought provoking moments in this movie, as when Rheya says, "I'm not the person I remember. I don't remember experiencing these things." And later, "I'm suicidal because that's how you remember me." In other words, Kelvin doesn't get back his dead wife. He only gets what he remembers. The truth is that all of our relationships are exactly like that -- We do not know the actual other person. All we know is the sum of everything we think we know about them. I was disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Superb sci-fi suffering from "Blade Runner" syndrome
Review: I admire the boldness of Soderbergh and Cameron to make a film like this in today's landscape of empty and overblown blockbusters. Honestly, I'm not sure that they made this film to be a "blockbuster;" I believe it was made for genre fans and for themselves. As for the film itself, I thought that it was wonderful. Amongst many other things, I found the treatment to be very focused and consistent, every shot and editing choice to be extremely well thought out, the acting great, and the music very appropriate and "choice." I liked that the script was implicit: it helped the film to avoid pretention. The love story was also in the tradition of films like "The Terminator" and "The Empire Strikes Back:" understated. Going into it, I thought that it would be overwrought, but it was intimate, absract, and on a "need-to-know" basis. I also thought that the film did a great and careful job of exploring some loose-ended philosophical topics such as free will and determinism without getting carried away with it (a hallmark of great, classical sci-fi). In fact, I found everything to be done only as much as it needed to be done and also found it easy to follow. I've seen the film twice and plan on seeing it many more times. It's not exactly the type of film that I'd have my friends over for, but neither is a film like "Blade Runner." Speaking of that film, it was originally received in much the same way that this film has been. It took the preceding years after its theatrical release to find its "cult" audience. I hope to see the same for Soderbergh's "Solaris" and I don't find it too much of a stretch to say that Soderbergh and Cameron had the same thing in mind when they made the film.
Rating: 
Summary: Stick with the original
Review: This visually impressive but butchered Soderbergh adaptation of Stanislaw Lem's novel preserves the esoteric elements of its source but sacrifices scientific foundation - clumsy exposition and loss of credibility ensues. Stick with the Russian original, I say. It's available on a wonderous Criterion Collection DVD!
Rating:
Summary: A Great Film
Review: This is one of the most beautfiul films I have ever seen. It is great science fiction similar to 2001 Space Odessy or Gattaca. The directing in this movie makes it special. The soundtrack and the shots and the camara angles brought me into the movie, I can't remember the last movie I saw that made me so emotionaly invested in the story. As great as this movie is don't watch it if you are sleepy! I did and I couldn't stop watching it, ended up staying up way too late. Peace Out
Rating:
Summary: this movie hits hard, leaves you stunned
Review: I entered this movie with trepidation, as I remembered, vaguely, that it had bombed at the box office, being described by reviewers as impenetrably boring. Once it started, I was hooked! The dialogue is not always realistic, but then again, given the circumstaces, who is to say that it isn't? Solaris manages to tackle complex ideas while at the same time wrapping those ideas in fairly normal dialogue and reaction by those on screen. We can be in awe and mystified by the events, even as we completely understand what the space travelers are saying and feeling. Have we not all seen people lash out at what they cannot understand? They react, sometimes cruelly, out of fear. Everything must be questioned--what truly motivates us, as humans, to do what we do, to consort with whom we "like". Why? The movie asks us that, and lets you, the viewer, answer it in your own way, just as each traveler on screen answers in their singular fashion. Different people, different response, different outcome....a different life. We all live different lives, due to choices and circumstances. Anyone who gives this one star, does not understand it. Then again, different people watch movies for different reasons. Myself, I like to watch all types of movies, and I don't demand that they all feature light sabre battles and cartoonish villains. This movie is heavy duty. Check it out!
|
