SPHERE

(February 1998, U.S.)

It's interesting to think that Spielberg's JURASSIC PARK (1993) kicked off the 1990's as the decade of Michael Crichton-novel-turned-movies (thought he also made a name for himself as a director in the '70s of films like WESTWORLD and COMA). I think I saw every one of them, including crap like CONGO (1995). But more than just another Crichton literary thriller, SPHERE reminds me that among his versatilities, director Barry Levinson proves he can put together not only an effective sci-fi thriller, but an interesting think-piece, as well. It's also the last film, in my opinion, that really stood out for me regarding Barry's impressive career (despite the initial negative reviews by critics). Everything that followed SPHERE just never worked for me.

When you're watching SPHERE, I suppose having a fondness for James Cameron's THE ABYSS (1989) doesn't hurt to start you off in the right direction. Once again, there's something mysterious going on at the deepest depths of the ocean floor. An alien spacecraft has been discovered and the immediate analysis by every sought-out intelligent expert (including Dustin Hoffman as a psychologist who once wrote a report under the Bush Sr. administration on what should be done in the event of an extraterrestrial visit to Earth) is that the ship is three hundred years-old. Other experts include Samuel L. Jackson, Liev Schreiber and Sharon Stone (sorry - she keeps all her clothes on in this one!) under the command of the hard-as-nails U.S. Navy Captain (played by Peter Coyote, whom, if you haven't forgotten his role in E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL, seems perfectly suitable for roles involving men in charge of alien life investigations). Everyone is assembled to an underwater "dormitory" called the Habitat; a state-of-the-art living facility located near the mysterious spacecraft. Turns out, however, that we're not dealing with aliens, but rather Earth people from the United States of the future, who somehow fell into a black hole once-upon-a-time and traveled back in time three hundred years and ended up underwater in our own present day of the late '90s.

(you following all of this, so far?)

The technology of our future far surpasses anything we have now. The computer aboard reveals an "unknown entry event" that took place and the logic of our on-board scientists leads us to believe that none will survive this mission since it appears evident that the events we're witnessing were never revealed to the world, thus documented as an "unknown entry event".

(you still with me?)

As the intensity of the ship, the perfect spherical ball of golden fluid that hovers not far from the ship, and its inexplicable effect on the crew become more evident and more lethal, we come to the learn and understand the concept of time travel, reality, dreams, and the ability of our deep-rooted "monsters from the Id" (remember FORBIDDEN PLANET?) to manifest our fears and nightmares into reality, including killer jellyfish, aggressive squids, poisonous snakes, a fire that nearly destroys the entire ship, and a temperamental computer entity who calls himself "Jerry". Actually, learning about "Jerry" is a funny moment when the crew concludes that the alien intelligence controlling "Jerry" must be an idiot. They even conclude among themselves, "Why not a stupid alien?" As they desperately wait to be rescued from above, the three remaining crew members (Hoffman, Stone and Jackson) come to realize their manifestations and their fears. They all conclude that they each entered the sphere, which gave them their supernatural abilities. But it's also the realization of these abilities that will save them in the end. Once they've managed to escape a cataclysmic explosion in a mini-sub, they conclude (I've used that word quite a bit, haven't I) that the only way to keep their powers out of the wrong hands (including their own) is to simply choose to forget everything that happened to them throughout the entire film, thus assuring the true meaning behind the paradox of the "unknown entry event".

Okay, so the critics didn't like SPHERE. Fuck them! Okay, so it's a sci-fi think piece, though not necessarily at the same thinking level as, say, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, SOLARIS or even DUNE. Still, I believe that the art of science fiction in film has to be embraced beyond the United Federation of Planets or a galaxy far, far away. Crichton's story challenges us to not only consider the possibilities of our future, but also the human flaws of our present. Dustin Hoffman concludes the film by citing that we're not ready to handle such alien powers, whether considered a gift or a curse. He's likely right. But I suppose if you take the negative criticism of audiences and film critics who chose not to embrace Barry Levinson's one attempt at sci-fi to heart, then clearly, the average Friday night multiplex moviegoer isn't ready for anything that requires too much thought or imagination, either. Fuck them, too!

Favorite line or dialogue:

Dr. Harry Adams: "We're all gonna die down here."
Norman Goodman: "What?"
Harry: "You see? It's curious. Ted did figure it out; time travel, and when we get back, we gonna tell everyone. How it's possible, how it's done, what the dangers are. But then why fifty years in the future when the spacecraft encounters a black hole does the computer call it an 'unknown entry event'? Why don't they know? If they don't know, that means we never told anyone. And if we never told anyone, it means we never made it back. Hence, we die down here. Just as a matter of deductive logic."