"Sphere" had one awesome scene.
The movie Sphere was, by many definitions, a very flawed movie. I always found it a guilty pleasure because I feel that it honestly tried to deal with the unknown, and the unknowable-in-a-realistic-fashion unknown. In the movie, the found a space ship from the future buried in goal in the middle of the ocean. All geological phenomenon occur at very steady rates, so they realize the coral indicated the ship was here on this planet for hundreds of years already. "Cool," I think.
Curious humans explored the ship. (I would, too.) On the ship it is discovered that not only was it American-made, but sent out into space to look for rare phenomenon. This ship from the future had on it a mysterious sphere that was perfectly smooth, but rippled. In the book the sphere was absolutely smooth, but it had a triangular hatch. For some reason the sphere somehow "chose" who to reflect in its surface. In the book, the sphere's hatch could not be pried open, no matter what. "Anyway, cool," I think. "They messed that up a little bit."
Here is where the movie did better than by the book. In the book, Harry figures out a way to open the sphere. Harry had to walk into the sphere after mediating in front of it for a little while. How Buddhist. In the movie, and this is pretty damn cool, once the sphere reflected a person, the sphere would "absorb" him instantly. In the movie, when harry was reflected, his reflection raced up to the north pole -- the zenith -- of the sphere. And when he reached it, he instantly disappeared from the real world. That was pretty damn cool. Even the characters who were in the movie who saw Harry disappear, Norman and the Navy Officer, couldn't believe their eyes at what they saw on the security monitor. I think that scene was better than what happened in the book. The movie sequence more more "quantum-mechanic-"y. Although I am really hesitant to believe that no one would notice a big shiny metal sphere wasn't reflecting them back. All think all for of them would have noticed that instantly. I found that too unbelievable. I think a more realistic approach to that weird phenomenon is that all of the brainy scientists would be too afraid to approach an apparently technological device.
But yes, the rest of the move Sphere is a hot mess. The acting was stilted. Parts of the book were necessarily changed (neutered). In the book, Norman and Beth never had an affair. Why was that changed for the movie adaptation? To make it more scintillating? It was unnecessary. I feel that the movie should have shown his attraction to her without having to "tart it up." I guess this is a rare situation in which established actors just phone it in. Peter Coyote took his role way too seriously. He was enjoyable, though. I just didn't believe he was a curmudgeony navy officer. He was too...neutered. Too close-shaven. Too tall for the role I was expecting to be seeing played by the book character.
Another big part about the movie that really bothered me was that the book avoided a time paradox. Time travel movies are just really hard genres to represent as they really would be perceived. In the book, when the monitor was activated, it showed the forward camera view of the space ship. The camera saw the universe fall away, to the outer edges of the field of view of the camera, with a central inner horizon containing a star field. So, in the book, it specifically states that this ship came from a different universe, although time travel could be factored in as plausible as well. It was never specifically stated the ship came from the future. So, the sphere spent forever caught in this time loop? How did it enter the time loop in the first place? I think I've obsessed about this before. But, at least the book avoided this weird conundrum by heavily implying the sphere came from outside our universe. Something that incredible could only exist there.
Urgh. The movie ending didn't follow the book ending...even though it could have! You know...the movie would have been better experienced if it followed the book. The book was well-balanced, and it seemed plausible. The characters were more real. There was too much triteness in the movie that bothered me.
Smart movies are a rare thing. Sphere wasn't smart when it could have been. Perhaps it should have kept is heavy, paranoid, racist, and sexist characters as characters, instead of the laundered archetypes there were in the movie! Such shame. If the hologram sequence, and the "absorption-ascension" sequence, were so damn cool...I think the script could have tried hard, too.
A clunky, but sporadically, enjoyable, "tries-too-hard-but-not-enough" sci-fi romp.
⊗
Curious humans explored the ship. (I would, too.) On the ship it is discovered that not only was it American-made, but sent out into space to look for rare phenomenon. This ship from the future had on it a mysterious sphere that was perfectly smooth, but rippled. In the book the sphere was absolutely smooth, but it had a triangular hatch. For some reason the sphere somehow "chose" who to reflect in its surface. In the book, the sphere's hatch could not be pried open, no matter what. "Anyway, cool," I think. "They messed that up a little bit."
Here is where the movie did better than by the book. In the book, Harry figures out a way to open the sphere. Harry had to walk into the sphere after mediating in front of it for a little while. How Buddhist. In the movie, and this is pretty damn cool, once the sphere reflected a person, the sphere would "absorb" him instantly. In the movie, when harry was reflected, his reflection raced up to the north pole -- the zenith -- of the sphere. And when he reached it, he instantly disappeared from the real world. That was pretty damn cool. Even the characters who were in the movie who saw Harry disappear, Norman and the Navy Officer, couldn't believe their eyes at what they saw on the security monitor. I think that scene was better than what happened in the book. The movie sequence more more "quantum-mechanic-"y. Although I am really hesitant to believe that no one would notice a big shiny metal sphere wasn't reflecting them back. All think all for of them would have noticed that instantly. I found that too unbelievable. I think a more realistic approach to that weird phenomenon is that all of the brainy scientists would be too afraid to approach an apparently technological device.
But yes, the rest of the move Sphere is a hot mess. The acting was stilted. Parts of the book were necessarily changed (neutered). In the book, Norman and Beth never had an affair. Why was that changed for the movie adaptation? To make it more scintillating? It was unnecessary. I feel that the movie should have shown his attraction to her without having to "tart it up." I guess this is a rare situation in which established actors just phone it in. Peter Coyote took his role way too seriously. He was enjoyable, though. I just didn't believe he was a curmudgeony navy officer. He was too...neutered. Too close-shaven. Too tall for the role I was expecting to be seeing played by the book character.
Another big part about the movie that really bothered me was that the book avoided a time paradox. Time travel movies are just really hard genres to represent as they really would be perceived. In the book, when the monitor was activated, it showed the forward camera view of the space ship. The camera saw the universe fall away, to the outer edges of the field of view of the camera, with a central inner horizon containing a star field. So, in the book, it specifically states that this ship came from a different universe, although time travel could be factored in as plausible as well. It was never specifically stated the ship came from the future. So, the sphere spent forever caught in this time loop? How did it enter the time loop in the first place? I think I've obsessed about this before. But, at least the book avoided this weird conundrum by heavily implying the sphere came from outside our universe. Something that incredible could only exist there.
Urgh. The movie ending didn't follow the book ending...even though it could have! You know...the movie would have been better experienced if it followed the book. The book was well-balanced, and it seemed plausible. The characters were more real. There was too much triteness in the movie that bothered me.
Smart movies are a rare thing. Sphere wasn't smart when it could have been. Perhaps it should have kept is heavy, paranoid, racist, and sexist characters as characters, instead of the laundered archetypes there were in the movie! Such shame. If the hologram sequence, and the "absorption-ascension" sequence, were so damn cool...I think the script could have tried hard, too.
A clunky, but sporadically, enjoyable, "tries-too-hard-but-not-enough" sci-fi romp.
⊗