Sphere (1998)
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A team of experts discovers a mysterious underwater object that reveals a terrifying connection between the past and the future.
The story
A spacecraft presumed to be of alien origin is discovered on the floor of the Pacific Ocean, estimated to have been there for nearly 300 years. A team of experts, including marine biologist Dr. Beth Halperin, mathematician Dr. Harry Adams, astrophysicist Dr. Ted Fielding, psychologist Dr. Norman Goodman and U.S. Navy Captain Harold Barnes, is assembled and taken to the Habitat, a state-of-the-art underwater living environment located near the spacecraft. Examining the spacecraft, the team is perplexed to learn it is not alien at all but rather American in origin. However, its technology far surpasses any in the present day.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
A team of experts explores a spacecraft in the Pacific Ocean that crashed in the 1700s after encountering a black hole in the future. They discover a perfect sphere in the cargo bay that reflects everything except them. Harry Adams enters the sphere and begins to manifest his fears as reality, causing tragedies and deaths in the underwater Habitat. The survivors believe they are communicating with an alien intelligence named 'Jerry,' but they eventually realize the entity is Harry's mind. Beth and Norman discover that both entered the sphere and gained the ability to manifest thoughts. To prevent a paradox and the destruction of the base, they use their powers to erase their memories of the event. The sphere then rises and accelerates into space.
- First release year
- 1998
- Runtime (minutes)
- 134
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Barry Levinson
- Writers
- Stephen Hauser · screenplay; Paul Attanasio · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Dustin Hoffman · Dr. Norman Goodman; Sharon Stone · Dr. Elizabeth "Beth" Halperin; Samuel L. Jackson · Dr. Harry Adams; Liev Schreiber · Dr. Ted Fielding; Peter Coyote · Capt. Harold C. Barnes; Queen Latifah · Alice "Teeny" Fletcher; Marga Gómez · Jane Edmunds; Huey Lewis · Helicopter Pilot
- Genres
- science fiction; psychological thriller
- Themes
- fear; humanity's readiness for power; paradox
- Tone and mood
- thriller; scientific
- Premise and plot tags
- science fiction; psychological thriller; mystery; adventure
- Source material / true-story basis
- Michael Crichton's novel of the same name
- Reception
- The film received mostly negative reviews from critics and was a box office failure. It received a 12% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a score of 35 on Metacritic.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 12% · review count: 57; Metacritic · score: 35 · scale: 100 · review count: 21
- Production trivia
- Dustin Hoffman joined the cast because of Barry Levinson's involvement.; Shooting took place at a naval base on Mare Island in Vallejo, California.; Barry Levinson was inspired to write the basic plot line for his subsequent film, Liberty Heights, based on a review of Sphere for Entertainment Weekly.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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