Sphere is an underwater sci-fi adventure starring
Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone, Samuel L. Jackson,
Liev Schreiber, and Peter Coyote. Written by
Michael Crichton, Sphere is an intricately woven
psychological thriller centered around a huge
golden ball with mysterious powers.

When a spacecraft about a half-mile long is found
deep underneath the ocean, a team of experts is
assembled to explore the craft. Apparently the
ship was found to have crash-landed there 288
years ago. After an initial walk through the
ship, the team determines that the ship was built
by the United States! The team is puzzled by the
fact that the ship was there since the 1700's yet
appears to be from the future.

During the initial walk-through, a huge golden
sphere is discovered. The members of the team are
strangely drawn to the sphere, especially Sam
Jackson's character, Harry. Harry re-enters the
craft without notifying anyone, and he is pulled
into the sphere. He comes out a changed man, happier
and seemingly unconcerned with the team's problems.
Hoffman's character, Norman, is a psychologist who
was picked to join the team because of a paper he
once wrote about relations with extra terrestrials.
He is also pulled into the sphere and, soon after,
Stone's character Beth also enters the sphere.

What ensues is a mind-bending battle as each team
member attempts to hold onto his or her sanity while
giant jellyfish and squid attack the underwater
habitat. The team makes contact with an entity
inside the sphere who seems to be behind the attacks.
The race is on to make it to the surface alive
before the entity destroys the habitat. But there is
more going on here than meets the eye. Without giving
too much of the plot away, it seems that a member
or members of the team may be responsible for the
strange goings-on. The action is pulse-pounding
and nonstop as each person tries to figure out who
he/she can trust in this chaotic, claustrophobic
environment.

There are so many twists and turns in the plot that
you really can not know what will happen next.
Director Barry Levinson tempers wry humor with
tense psychological drama. Usually these two elements
are difficult to bring together successfully but
Levinson makes it look seamless, even organic. The
film is presented in documentary form, creating the
illusion that these are real events and real people,
an effective approach for this story.

The characters are so well-developed that you feel
close to each one of them by film's end. The character
development is helped along by a few scenes in which
it appears that the dialogue is unrehearsed or done
impromptu. These scenes add to the organic feel that
permeates the entire film. And, of course, fine
performances by everyone involved round out an
entertaining picture that stands apart from the
usual underwater-monster-attacks-scientists fair
that is formulaic and derivative. All in all, a
worthwhile effort.