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List Price: $12.98 | | Label: Warner Home Video
Salesrank: 21305
Released: July 14, 1998 |
| Our Price: $1.83 |
| Used Price: $0.01 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
When a spaceship is found 1000 feet below the Pacific Ocean it is carbon dated to be over 400 years old. A crack team of scientists are deployed to the site. They discover how to enter the sphere. Once they come out they hold strange powers of manifestation.
Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: R
Release Date: 8-FEB-2005
Media Type: DVD
Description of Sphere (Snap Case):
From yet another derivative science fiction novel by Michael Crichton comes this equally derivative and flaccid movie, in which three top Hollywood stars struggle to squeeze tension and excitement out of material that doesn't match their talents. You're supposed to find awe and mystery in Crichton's story about a team of scientists and scholars who discover a 300-year-old alien spacecraft deep on the ocean floor, but mostly you feel that this is all much ado about nothing. The exploration team consists of a psychologist (Dustin Hoffman), mathematician (Samuel L. Jackson), biochemist (Sharon Stone), and an astrophysicist (Liev Schreiber), and when they enter the alien ship they discover a mysterious sphere inside. What they don't know is that the sphere has the power to manipulate their thoughts and perceptions, and before long the scientists' undersea habitat is a veritable haunted house of frightening visions and creeping paranoia. Who can be trusted? What is the sphere's purpose, and why is it on the ocean floor? Sphere makes some attempt to answer these questions, but the film is a mess, and it leads to one of the most anticlimactic endings of any science fiction film ever made. There are moments of high intensity and psychological suspense, and the stellar cast works hard to boost the talky screenplay. But it's clear that this was a hurried production (Hoffman and director Barry Levinson made Wag the Dog during an extended production delay), and as a result Sphere looks and feels like a film that wasn't quite ready for the cameras. Though it's by no means a waste of time, it's undeniably disappointing. The special edition DVD includes audio commentary by Hoffman and Jackson and a behind-the-scenes featurette, Shaping the Sphere: The Art of the Special Effects Supervisor, exploring the alien ship's design and creation by special effects technicians. --Jeff Shannon
Sphere (Snap Case) Reviews:
Very Entertaining! 
2009-09-16 - This is a good movie, with a very good cast. I have seen this movie many times and I still enjoy it.
It raises the question, "What would humanity do with the ultimate power?"
The power to make all their dreams come true!!! I think that's obvious!!
Watch the movie, and see what you think!!
The only movie I've ever walked out of... 
2009-08-01 - When this movie came out, several of my friends and I were anxious to see it. Big-name stars, lavish special effects, a Michael Crichton story...how could it possibly suck?
An hour into the movie, we all exchanged bored, please-God-make-it-stop glances, and in unison, we got up and left for the blessed relief of daylight. I never read the book, but a co-worker of mine says it was boring, too, which might account for the movie's meandering, non-sensical plot. I'm a big sci-fi fan with a pretty high tolerance for convoluted, hold-on-we're-getting-there storylines, but even I have my limits...what was the point? The dialogue was inane...I agree with the Amazon reviewer: everything felt rushed, like they filmed the rehearsals -- overly wordy lines, haltingly delivered, lacking any conviction or genuine emotion. To be fair, I didn't see the ending, so I can't really say it was the worst sci-fi movie I've ever seen. I will say it was the worst sci-fi movie I couldn't finish.
Pleased 
2009-06-27 - Was very pleased with Sphere. It was received in timely manner and in excellent condition.
Issues with order but was resolved quickly
2009-05-20 - Received product quickly with standard shipping. However, when i tried to play the dvd, it would not load in any of my dvd players, i kept getting a message saying "disc error". I notified the company of the issue and they promptly sent out a replacement free of charge with no questions asked and appologized for the problems. Again i received the product quickly, within a few days and it worked fine. I don't know what the issue was with the first disk but i did note that the playable side of the first one i'd gotten was a goldish color where as the second one was silver. So i wonder if i'd gotten a foriegn "knock off" the first time. In either case, i appreciate the way the good company handled the issue and acted promptly.
Sphere
2009-05-07 - Great Movie with good special effects for the time. The Movie follows the book well, until near the end.
