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Sphere

Play trailer Poster for Sphere PG-13 Released Feb 13, 1998 2h 13m Sci-Fi Play Trailer Watchlist
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13% Tomatometer 55 Reviews 38% Popcornmeter 50,000+ Ratings
When psychologist Norman Goodman (Dustin Hoffman) wrote a report for the government on how to deal with extraterrestrial life forces, he didn't expect his recommendations to be used. Now that a secret government agency is investigating what may be an alien spaceship that has been discovered partially buried on the floor of the Pacific Ocean, Norman finds that the plan he outlined is being put into effect and that the team he named in his report has been assembled.
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Sphere

Sphere

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Critics Consensus

Sphere features an A-level cast working with B-grade material, with a story seen previously in superior science-fiction films.

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Critics Reviews

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Desson Thomson Washington Post Ultimately, the explanation we've been waiting for turns out to be just that: an explanation. Jan 8, 2018 Full Review Lisa Schwarzbaum Entertainment Weekly Rated: D Sep 7, 2011 Full Review Todd McCarthy Variety An empty shell. Aug 5, 2008 Full Review Dan DiNicola The Daily Gazette (Schenectady, NY) An undersea, sci-fi, paranoid thriller which packs tension but cannot release the powerful payoff we have a right to expect. Rated: B- Jan 19, 2023 Full Review Wesley Lovell Cinema Sight Adding to the downfalls is the unavailable chemistry between the leads, Hoffman and Stone. No sparks seem to fly in this relationship and we don’t feel a kinship to either. Rated: 1.5/4 Jan 18, 2023 Full Review Leigh Paatsch Herald Sun (Australia) It pays to be incredibly suspicious of a movie where nearly all dramatic tension is drawn from characters standing around bleeping computer screens and commenting on how bad things look. Rated: 1.5/5 Aug 7, 2020 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Paulo S This is one of my favorite science-fiction films. The visuals were great, and I enjoyed every minute of it. Some parts of the story could have been told better, but it was not enough to make me dislike the movie. I definitely recommend it! Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 03/06/25 Full Review lord b Wakky n gives you hope ok something is gogin to happen and soemthign does but makes no sense. Grandma stone not lookin good. Dustin as awful as always. Sam only good part but again not sense. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 02/24/25 Full Review David M Painful 2 hours. I think we're all in agreement that "We should all forget the Sphere" Rated 1 out of 5 stars 12/15/24 Full Review Robin S Absolutely awful. Afterwards we sat around and counted to 3. Unfortunately we can still remember this film. Our consensus, "Worse than cat woman". Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 12/13/24 Full Review Simon T The first thirty minutes are intriguing and suspenseful: although Hoffman is miscast and doing his mumbly gravel voice schtick. Barry Levinson is a strange choice for director, but makes a decent fist imitating James Cameron. The real problem is the shrill unoriginal script. Copying Alien, The Abyss and Solaris, and getting the likes of Sharon Stone and Samuel L. Jackson to mouth 'Oh my God!' every 3 minutes only sets one's teeth on edge. A shame, given what could have been made of a promising premise. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 12/01/24 Full Review Gareth T Spoiler Alert!! Space craft is discovered on the sea floor that been there 300 years, team of scientists enter said spacecraft and find fresh footprints on the floor- missed opportunity to add to the tension but story goes nowhere... 2 of the scientists finding the spacecraft's bridge finding a very old dead person and ships log so what do they do as scientists they look at the last log entry... which tells them it was a unknown event, and then they do nothing further, I'm not a scientist but if it was me I'd be looking through every log entry to get more answers, however these scientists don't seem to have any clue about anything including logical decision making!! And this is nub of the entire film... childlike decisions throughout from apparently some of the best scientific minds of the time. The whole thing makes no sense and descends into something low budget, A-list actors in a movie with a B-list if not C-list story. Do yourself a favour if you want something that is actually entertaining and is along the same theme, go watch Event Horizon!! Rated 1 out of 5 stars 03/08/24 Full Review Read all reviews
Sphere

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Movie Info

Synopsis When psychologist Norman Goodman (Dustin Hoffman) wrote a report for the government on how to deal with extraterrestrial life forces, he didn't expect his recommendations to be used. Now that a secret government agency is investigating what may be an alien spaceship that has been discovered partially buried on the floor of the Pacific Ocean, Norman finds that the plan he outlined is being put into effect and that the team he named in his report has been assembled.
Director
Barry Levinson
Producer
Michael Crichton, Barry Levinson, Andrew Wald
Screenwriter
Michael Crichton, Kurt Wimmer, Stephen Hauser, Paul Attanasio
Distributor
Warner Bros. Pictures
Production Co
Baltimore Pictures, Constant c Productions, Punch Productions
Rating
PG-13 (Startling Images|Sci-Fi Action)
Genre
Sci-Fi
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Feb 13, 1998, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Jan 1, 2008
Box Office (Gross USA)
$37.0M
Runtime
2h 13m
Sound Mix
Dolby Stereo, Dolby A, SDDS, DTS, Surround, Dolby Digital, Dolby SR
Aspect Ratio
Scope (2.35:1)
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