Review of Solaris (2002) by Mark J — 29 May 2009

What's going on? A sci-fi film with no frickin' explosions or space chases??!! Despite its ponderous nature & slow pace, Solaris is still a great sci-fi movie, but won't appeal to those who like their space romps to resemble The Phantom Menace. The plot is fairly straightforward: George Clooney plays the part of Chris Kelvin, a psychologist sent to a space station orbiting Solaris in order to investigate some strange & unexplained goings on. When he gets there he finds most of the crew have disappeared & the ones left behind are suffering from stress, depression, paranoia and delusions. Kelvin's job is to rescue the mission by bringing the crew home, but things get complicated when he also starts to fall under the strange spell of Solaris, which appears to be giving him a chance to re-live his life in a very different way. Is the universe a friendly place? That's just one of the many questions this movie poses, but don't expect any ready-made answers.

It's all good thoughtful stuff and what I loved about Solaris is that it's not the kind of film that gets made very often. It's a slow-moving artistic film that asks questions about our mortality, our metaphysical beliefs & the nature of existence. However, Solaris does tread the fine line between being a serious, philosophical piece of 'art' cinema and a pile of pretentious crap. Yep, it's one of those love-hate things.

For me, Solaris is an intriguing and absorbing film. It starts off a bit like Alien, though lacks the violence & the 'industrial' space-ship look. Then it turns into a psychological thriller& dysfunctional love story. But it's with the 'love' element of the story that I have some reservations, as it does tend to overshadow everything else and almost detracts from the deeper issues the film is trying to get at. Anyway, if you prefer questions to answers & don't mind sitting through 2 hours of sci-fi with no explosions or a satisfying conclusion, this film is for you!