Sphere

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Myself

Not the usual fare for Barry Levinson, but the film of the Michael Crichton novel is an entertaining sci-fi thriller with a few horror sequences thrown in for good measure. And Queen Latifah is killed by killer jellyfish.

I was just the right age when this was released and loved all the effects work and the premise and all the suspicion and paranoia that it leads too. I also love dramas that force characters into confined spaces in deadly environments. It has quite a prestigious cast for what is essentially an above average b-movie. That's partially why it's above average.

That's not to say it's without it's problems, but I find them hard to spot through the murky view of nostalgia. The things I don't like about it are stupid things like, you don't get to see a giant squid, a favourite of mine. From what I read it was a somewhat troubled production. Things generally seem to go that way when a large portion of your film involved water shooting and visual effects. But it's not something I notice watching it back. The child in me just say, ooo cool spaceship, black holes, time travel, mind powers, scary creatures etc.

It has a cool score by Elliot Goldenthal that is ingrained in my memory for some reason.

This is what happens when everyone from the writer to the director to the actors, take what is essentially a b-grade hoaky sci-fi film and bring their a-game. It happens from time to time. The most famous of which is probably Alien. This isn't anywhere near as iconic as that but is certainly has moments and ideas that I love.