Plot
A spaceship is discovered under three hundred years' worth of coral growth at the bottom of the ocean.
Release Year: 1998
Rating: 5.7/10 (41,895 voted)
Critic's Score: 35/100
Director:
Barry Levinson
Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone, Samuel L. Jackson
Storyline 1000 feet below the ocean, navy divers discover an object half-a-mile long. A crack team of scientists are deployed to the site in Deepsea Habitats. What they find boggles the mind as they discover a perfect metal sphere. What is the secret behind the sphere? Will they survive the mysterious 'manifestations'? Who or what is creating these? They may never live to find out.
Writers: Michael Crichton, Kurt Wimmer
Cast: Dustin Hoffman
-
Dr. Norman Goodman
Sharon Stone
-
Dr. Elizabeth 'Beth' Halperin
Samuel L. Jackson
-
Dr. Harry Adams
Peter Coyote
-
Captain Harold C. Barnes
Liev Schreiber
-
Dr. Ted Fielding
Queen Latifah
-
Alice 'Teeny' Fletcher
Marga Gómez
-
Jane Edmunds
Bernard Hocke
-
Seaman
James Pickens Jr.
-
O.S.S.A. Instructor
Michael Keys Hall
-
O.S.S.A. Official
Ralph Tabakin
-
O.S.S.A. Official
Taglines:
A thousand feet beneath the sea, the blackest holes are in the mind...
Filming Locations: Mare Island Naval Yard, Vallejo, California, USA
Box Office Details
Budget: $75,000,000
(estimated)
Opening Weekend: $18,586,765
(USA)
(16 February 1998)
(2814 Screens)
Gross: $37,020,277
(USA)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
Shot at the abandoned Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California.
Goofs:
Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers):
During the descent to the underwater habitat, Harry identifies the classical music inside the mini-sub as: "Mozart. Horn Concerto in E-Flat, K447.", which is not correct. It is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Horn Concerto in D, K412.
Quotes: Beth:
I wanted to thank you for saving my life. Norman Goodman:
...An interesting life to save...
User Review
The best underwater action film!
Rating:
This is the rarest of action films - one that engages your intellect not
just your senses.
On the seabed in mid-ocean a huge vessel is discovered. A team is
dispatched to investigate - and what they find is beyond
belief.
Admittedly there were a couple of scenes which I felt missed the intended
realism of the film, and occasionally it seemed far too obvious what was
going on, but the ending resolved everything beautifully.
I suspect that fans of action films will feel let down by the thought
necessary to follow this film, and fans of science fiction may well feel
that after the first half hour there is a lack of a traditional sci-fi
element. Many people I'm sure will feel that too little is explained,
but
the point of the film is that it doesn't need to be - the message of the
ending is strong enough that we don't need explanation.
I'd particularly recommend this film to anyone who likes psychological
thrillers. I was fairly impressed by the action integrated in The Abyss,
but Sphere far surpasses it in terms of plot. Most of all, if you like
films that simply entertain, this is not for you. It's more about the
reactions it causes in you when you follow the story. If you come away
from
this film unchanged, you've missed the point.
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