SPHERE

WARNER BROS.

RELEASED 27 March 1998

In Sphere, psychologist Dr Norman Goodman (Dustin Hoffman) is brought by the government to a spot in the middle of the Pacific Ocean alongside biochemist Beth Halperin (Sharon Stone), mathematician Harry Adams (Samuel L. Jackson) and astrophysicist Dr Ted Fielding (Liev Schreiber) to investigate a spaceship which has lain on the ocean floor for three hundred years. They uncover a mysterious sphere inside which appears to possess intelligence. Cut off from the surface, the team begin to encounter increasing unexplainable dangers and it’s a race against time to solve the enigma.

Directed by Academy Award-winning director Barry Levinson, starring an Oscar-winning actor and co-starring two Oscar-nominated actors, Sphere oozes class. Levinson directs with terrific gusto giving the film an exciting, tense momentum and the unexpectedly humorous script supplies the audience with a very funny helium moment and a memorable ‘little green men’ line. The cast are appealing with Stone continuing down the right path to better roles. Two points I would make though. At over two hours it needed further editing and a major plot twist contained a glaring error. Still, enjoyable stuff.

THREE OUT OF FIVE