Review of Sphere (1998) by Stuart M — 17 Dec 2013
This film was better than I remembered, which was easy because I remembered nothing. It's certainly better than reviews indicate. The concept is solid and the execution generally competent. But never more than competent.
The big problem here is that for a scifi thriller it has a distinct absence of thrills. Most of the action scenes are rather anticlimactic. It needed one or two setpiece effects shots to really capture the panic.
Sticking to what they see inside the base may save on budget and increase the claustrophobia but in the end it decreases the sense of scale needed for a film about such big issues. Nowhere is this more obvious than the "climax".
The performances are very good, but the characters wafer-thin. I like the movie well enough, but it feels like it was toying with being great and then just dropped the ball.
This review of Sphere (1998) was written by Stuart M on 17 Dec 2013.
Sphere has generally received mixed reviews.
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