I remember catching parts of this movie in years past and was intrigued enough to buy the DVD. Now having seen the whole thing, I regret spending the money. SPOILERS AHEAD! As a plot, it tries to do too many things in too little time. This may appeal to the Moulin Rogue mindset, but it leaves no room for character development. What's sad is there are so many aspects that COULD have been developed but were short- sold in interest of adding subplot after subplot (did it really further the story that Dustin Hoffman's character and Sharon Stone's character had a sordid past?) Hoffman's character diagnoses "Jerry" as a child who hasn't had interaction with people for 300 years which works for the plot at first, but then it's not "Jerry" but "Harry"... so why would Harry be acting like a lonely child? And this is just one of the many plot holes that are just too big to ignore. If it was Harry that killed the other scientists, and not Jerry, does that make Harry a homicidal maniac? And would two fellow scientists be sitting in the debriefing room acting "ho hum" and holding hands with this guy that just killed everyone? Oh! I forgot! EVERYONE entered the sphere at one time or another (or did they?) Ya' know, if the audience is intentionally "kept in the dark" about what's really going on so they can "empathize" with the characters on the screen, you're going to leave the audience with a "WTF" feeling when all that confusion is "explained" in a BS rough-shod, we- gotta'-keep-it-around-two-hours resolution. They were able to just "forget"??? How??? By wishing it?? Why do only SOME fears (and wishes, evidently) manifest while others don't? Stone's character mentions a fleeting thought of wanting to die and BOOM that threat materializes. And yet, during the ascent to the surface not one of them had a "fleeting" fear that there would be no boats, or that the mini-sub might be damaged and they might explode? "Oh but the magic in the movie is in the unanswerable questions." Horse hockey! Barry Levinson saw "Abyss" and wanted to make a similar movie, read Chrichton's novel and thought he could make a block buster but got in over his head and slapped the ending on so sloppily it looks like Bondo on a '63 Corvette Coupe. Don't waste your time. Watch the Abyss instead.

I thought the start was pretty good, with it's mystery and tension. Which is composed of navy divers and scientists. They are deployed into the deep sea to investigate a mysterious alien object which is in the shape of a sphere. The thing is once the crew finds the sphere it becomes really boring without much substance. This just didn't seem like one of those deep ambiguous movie that people will watch over and over again to understand a bit better. Majority of the film is composed of hallucination, strange things going down with paranoia and horror. I did think the cinematography with it's claustrophobic settings was quite effective. With the style of a film such as this, I expected a bit more depth to it. I remember watching this movie as a kid in a theater and was confused about what was going on. However watching this now as an adult, I still couldn't get myself to appreciate the story. It just wasn't a rewarding experience, despite the really good visuals and special effects. I also give this movie a 5 because at least it tried to build tension and horror without relying a lot on blood and gore. 5/10

A largely disappointing thriller adapted from a book by Michael Crichton, which is both overlong and boring at times, although not totally without merit. The film starts off well with the initial underwater exploration of the alien craft, and the sphere itself, a most impressive creation. Sadly after this set-up, it seems that nobody really knew where to go, so instead it becomes standard run-of-the-mill fare with the members of the undersea station getting bumped off one by one (although the varied deaths, including jellyfish attack, fire, etc. are impressive and well-staged). The confusing storyline involves the alien sphere channelling people's unconscious thoughts and fears and bringing them to life, thus turning everybody on each other and killing themselves. It sounds more exciting than it is.The big budget is impressive, both in the underwater visuals and special effects, which are limited and kept to a minimum rather than over the top as per usual. The photography is interesting, the sets varied, and the action, when it occurs, is accompanied by an old-fashioned music score which adds to the excitement. Sadly, for the most part the film just sort of meanders on with not much occurring and nobody getting any closer to discovering the truth.Dustin Hoffman is good, as expected, as the lead, although his heart doesn't seem to be in it. Sharon Stone is merely adequate as the female crew member, sometimes embarrassing when she supposedly loses it. Samuel L. Jackson is once again excellent as the first crew member to go inside the sphere, who may or may not be a villain; his edgy turn is one of the film's highlights. Liev Schreiber is a pretty ineffectual although likable scientist who doesn't seem to figure much. Peter Coyote has a minor role as an official who gets trapped in a closing door and cut in two (like in DEEP STAR SIX). Rapper Queen Latifah is unnoticeable in a very minor bit part as a technician.There are some effective scares, like the arrival of the giant squid, plus the genuinely scary attacks by water snakes which lunge at the camera. Also some nice touches, like the book that Jackson reads that's blank after page 87 (probably the cleverest bit of the film). Sadly the long-expected ending is rushed and a disappointment, relying on that old, old cliché of a bomb timer ticking down as the participants rush to escape, and culminating in a huge explosion that looks nice but seems to be a weak way of tying up all the loose ends. Although SPHERE has its moments, it's undoubtedly a bad film, a flop that had people staying away from the cinema in droves. I would recommend it only to the most dedicated sci-fi fan who might get a few thrills from it and doesn't mind wasting a couple of hours in the process.

This film blew me away when I first saw it. Unfortunately, 18 years later, it is just embarrassing. I'm not sure why I didn't notice back then that it is just crammed with unnecessary hysterics and over-the-top drama. Most of the characters are just plain annoying, and the story just doesn't seem to make sense. Did it make sense 18 years ago? Probably not, but the effects must have been dazzling enough to mask the lack of a cohesive plot. And to allow it to run for what is now obviously an excessively long time.One of the worst, yet most often committed mistakes in any film that involves spacesuits/diving suits is the inclusion of a bright lamp INSIDE the helmet. Obviously, this is done to improve the lighting for the camera. You don't need to be very intelligent to know that this light inside the helmet will absolutely destroy all visibility for the wearer. All he/she will see is glare. And yet, nearly every filmmaker does it. Here is no exception, although I will admit it's not the worst. But use of this lame lighting trick reflects either stupidity or bare contempt for the viewer. I can't help it, it ruins the whole film for me, no matter what other merits it might have.But this one ruined itself, it didn't need the helmet light to do that. It's unfortunate; I anticipated a very rewarding experience going into this viewing so many years later. I now wish I hadn't bothered. My memory of the film is now also ruined.