Sphere (film)
Encyclopedia
Sphere is a 1998 science fiction
psychological thriller film, starring Dustin Hoffman
, Sharon Stone
, and Samuel L. Jackson
. Sphere was based on the 1986 novel of the same name
by Michael Crichton
, author of Jurassic Park
and The Lost World
. The film was released in the United States
on February 13, 1998.
, a thousand feet below the surface, what is believed to be an alien spacecraft is discovered after a ship laying transoceanic cable has its cable cut and the United States Navy
investigates the cause. The thickness of coral
growth on the spaceship suggests that it has been there for almost 300 years. A team made up of marine biologist Dr. Beth Halperin (Sharon Stone
), mathematician Dr. Harry Adams (Samuel L. Jackson
), astrophysicist Dr. Ted Fielding (Liev Schreiber
), psychologist Dr. Norman Goodman (Dustin Hoffman
), and U.S. Navy Capt. Harold Barnes (Peter Coyote
) are tasked with investigating the spaceship. The team (along with two navy technicians) are housed in a state-of-the-art underwater living environment called the Habitat during their stay on the ocean floor. Upon entering the spaceship, the team makes several discoveries. The first is that the ship is not alien, and that it is in fact an American spaceship. They assume, due to the years of coral growth and advanced technology, that the craft is from the future. The last date in the ship's log, 06/21/43, does not indicate the specific century. The last entry in the log details an "Unknown (Entry) Event", which depicts the ship apparently falling into a black hole
, resulting in its trip through time. The ship's mission apparently involved gathering objects from around the galaxy to bring back to Earth. An item of particular interest is a large, perfect sphere in the cargo hold. It is suspended a few feet above the ground and has an impenetrable fluid surface which reflects its surroundings but not, for some undetermined reason, people.
Harry concludes from the classification of the event which sent the ship back that the Habitat crew is fated to die: it would not have been an "unknown event" if they had lived to report about it, he reasons. Harry soon sneaks back to the spaceship, and finds a way to enter the sphere. Soon after, a series of numeric-encoded messages begins to show up on the habitat's computer screens, and Harry and Ted are able to decipher the messages and converse with what appears to be an alien (which calls itself "Jerry"), which has been trapped in the sphere. They soon discover that "Jerry" can hear everything they are saying aboard the Habitat. Harry's entry into the sphere prevents the team from evacuating before the arrival of a powerful typhoon on the surface, forcing them to stay below for almost a week. A series of tragedies then befalls the crew: Fletcher, the navy technician, is killed by aggressive Sea Nettles. Later, Edmunds corpse is found drifting near the station, her body completely pulverised by what turns out to be a giant squid
, which returns to attack the station. In the carnage that follows, Barnes is cut in half by a computer operated door, and Ted is burned to death. Sea snakes
attack Norman, though he is not injured. Jerry is suspected to be the cause of these incidents.
Eventually, only Harry, Norman, and Beth remain. At this point, they realize that they have all entered the world of the perfect sphere, which has given them the power to manifest their thoughts into reality. As such, all of the disasters that had been plaguing them are the result of manifestations of the worst parts of their own minds. The name "Jerry" turns out to have been erroneously decoded and is actually spelled "Harry"; it is Harry's subconscious communicating with them through their computer system whenever he is asleep. At that point, Beth's suicidal thoughts manifest themselves as triggering a countdown to detonate the explosives that were brought along to clear away the coral. They abandon the Habitat for the mini-sub, but their fears manifest an illusion of the spacecraft around them. Norman finally sees through the illusion, and punches the mini-sub's emergency surfacing button. The explosives destroy the habitat and the spaceship, but (unknown to them) the sphere itself remains undamaged. As the explosives detonate and create a huge blast wave below it, the mini-sub rises to the surface, to be quickly retrieved by the returning surface ships, permitting the survivors to begin safe decompression once on board a navy ship.
The film ends with the three deciding to use their powers to erase their own memories before being debriefed, in order to prevent the knowledge about the sphere from falling into the wrong hands. Thus, Harry's paradox, in which they are alive yet no one has learned about the "unknown event," is resolved. As they erase their own memories of the "unknown event," the sphere is seen emerging from the ocean and flying off into space.
, with an average score of 4.1/10 and it currently holds the worst reviewed rating of Dustin Hoffman's movies along with Ishtar
.
.
Track listing
Crew credits
Science fiction film
Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...
psychological thriller film, starring Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Lee Hoffman is an American actor with a career in film, television, and theatre since 1960. He has been known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and vulnerable characters....
, Sharon Stone
Sharon Stone
Sharon Vonne Stone is an American actress, film producer, and former fashion model. She achieved international recognition for her role in the erotic thriller Basic Instinct...
, and Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel Leroy Jackson is an American film and television actor and film producer. After becoming involved with the Civil Rights Movement, he moved on to acting in theater at Morehouse College, and then films. He had several small roles such as in the film Goodfellas before meeting his mentor,...
. Sphere was based on the 1986 novel of the same name
Sphere (novel)
Sphere is a science fiction novel written by Michael Crichton and published in 1987. It was made into the film Sphere in 1998.The novel follows Norman Johnson as a psychologist who is engaged by the United States Navy to join a team of scientists assembled by the U.S. Government to examine an...
by Michael Crichton
Michael Crichton
John Michael Crichton , best known as Michael Crichton, was an American best-selling author, producer, director, and screenwriter, best known for his work in the science fiction, medical fiction, and thriller genres. His books have sold over 200 million copies worldwide, and many have been adapted...
, author of Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park (film)
Jurassic Park is a 1993 American science fiction adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Michael Crichton. It stars Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Martin Ferrero, and Bob Peck...
and The Lost World
The Lost World: Jurassic Park
The Lost World: Jurassic Park is a 1997 science fiction thriller film, directed by Steven Spielberg. The film was produced by Bonnie Curtis, Kathleen Kennedy, Gerald R. Molen and Colin Wilson...
. The film was released in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on February 13, 1998.
Plot
In the middle of the southern Pacific OceanPacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
, a thousand feet below the surface, what is believed to be an alien spacecraft is discovered after a ship laying transoceanic cable has its cable cut and the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
investigates the cause. The thickness of coral
Coral
Corals are marine animals in class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps". The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.A coral "head" is a colony of...
growth on the spaceship suggests that it has been there for almost 300 years. A team made up of marine biologist Dr. Beth Halperin (Sharon Stone
Sharon Stone
Sharon Vonne Stone is an American actress, film producer, and former fashion model. She achieved international recognition for her role in the erotic thriller Basic Instinct...
), mathematician Dr. Harry Adams (Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel Leroy Jackson is an American film and television actor and film producer. After becoming involved with the Civil Rights Movement, he moved on to acting in theater at Morehouse College, and then films. He had several small roles such as in the film Goodfellas before meeting his mentor,...
), astrophysicist Dr. Ted Fielding (Liev Schreiber
Liev Schreiber
Isaac Liev Schreiber , commonly known as Liev Schreiber, is an American actor, producer, director, and screenwriter. He became known during the late 1990s and early 2000s, having initially appeared in several independent films, and later mainstream Hollywood films, including the Scream trilogy of...
), psychologist Dr. Norman Goodman (Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Lee Hoffman is an American actor with a career in film, television, and theatre since 1960. He has been known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and vulnerable characters....
), and U.S. Navy Capt. Harold Barnes (Peter Coyote
Peter Coyote
Peter Coyote is an American actor, author, director, screenwriter and narrator of films, theatre, television and audio books. His voice work includes narrating the opening ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympics and Apple's iPad campaign. He has also served as on-camera co-host of the 2000 Oscar...
) are tasked with investigating the spaceship. The team (along with two navy technicians) are housed in a state-of-the-art underwater living environment called the Habitat during their stay on the ocean floor. Upon entering the spaceship, the team makes several discoveries. The first is that the ship is not alien, and that it is in fact an American spaceship. They assume, due to the years of coral growth and advanced technology, that the craft is from the future. The last date in the ship's log, 06/21/43, does not indicate the specific century. The last entry in the log details an "Unknown (Entry) Event", which depicts the ship apparently falling into a black hole
Black hole
A black hole is a region of spacetime from which nothing, not even light, can escape. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will deform spacetime to form a black hole. Around a black hole there is a mathematically defined surface called an event horizon that...
, resulting in its trip through time. The ship's mission apparently involved gathering objects from around the galaxy to bring back to Earth. An item of particular interest is a large, perfect sphere in the cargo hold. It is suspended a few feet above the ground and has an impenetrable fluid surface which reflects its surroundings but not, for some undetermined reason, people.
Harry concludes from the classification of the event which sent the ship back that the Habitat crew is fated to die: it would not have been an "unknown event" if they had lived to report about it, he reasons. Harry soon sneaks back to the spaceship, and finds a way to enter the sphere. Soon after, a series of numeric-encoded messages begins to show up on the habitat's computer screens, and Harry and Ted are able to decipher the messages and converse with what appears to be an alien (which calls itself "Jerry"), which has been trapped in the sphere. They soon discover that "Jerry" can hear everything they are saying aboard the Habitat. Harry's entry into the sphere prevents the team from evacuating before the arrival of a powerful typhoon on the surface, forcing them to stay below for almost a week. A series of tragedies then befalls the crew: Fletcher, the navy technician, is killed by aggressive Sea Nettles. Later, Edmunds corpse is found drifting near the station, her body completely pulverised by what turns out to be a giant squid
Giant squid
The giant squid is a deep-ocean dwelling squid in the family Architeuthidae, represented by as many as eight species...
, which returns to attack the station. In the carnage that follows, Barnes is cut in half by a computer operated door, and Ted is burned to death. Sea snakes
Sea Snakes
Sea Snakes were a Canadian indie rock band, formed in 2002 and disbanded in 2005. The band consisted of vocalist and guitarist Jimmy McIntyre, guitarist Kristian Galberg, bassist and saxophonist Jeremy Strachan, keyboardist Shaw-Han Liem and drummer Nathan Lawr.Strachan played in the defunct band...
attack Norman, though he is not injured. Jerry is suspected to be the cause of these incidents.
Eventually, only Harry, Norman, and Beth remain. At this point, they realize that they have all entered the world of the perfect sphere, which has given them the power to manifest their thoughts into reality. As such, all of the disasters that had been plaguing them are the result of manifestations of the worst parts of their own minds. The name "Jerry" turns out to have been erroneously decoded and is actually spelled "Harry"; it is Harry's subconscious communicating with them through their computer system whenever he is asleep. At that point, Beth's suicidal thoughts manifest themselves as triggering a countdown to detonate the explosives that were brought along to clear away the coral. They abandon the Habitat for the mini-sub, but their fears manifest an illusion of the spacecraft around them. Norman finally sees through the illusion, and punches the mini-sub's emergency surfacing button. The explosives destroy the habitat and the spaceship, but (unknown to them) the sphere itself remains undamaged. As the explosives detonate and create a huge blast wave below it, the mini-sub rises to the surface, to be quickly retrieved by the returning surface ships, permitting the survivors to begin safe decompression once on board a navy ship.
The film ends with the three deciding to use their powers to erase their own memories before being debriefed, in order to prevent the knowledge about the sphere from falling into the wrong hands. Thus, Harry's paradox, in which they are alive yet no one has learned about the "unknown event," is resolved. As they erase their own memories of the "unknown event," the sphere is seen emerging from the ocean and flying off into space.
Cast
- Dustin HoffmanDustin HoffmanDustin Lee Hoffman is an American actor with a career in film, television, and theatre since 1960. He has been known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and vulnerable characters....
as Dr. Norman Goodman - Sharon StoneSharon StoneSharon Vonne Stone is an American actress, film producer, and former fashion model. She achieved international recognition for her role in the erotic thriller Basic Instinct...
as Dr. Elizabeth "Beth" Halperin - Samuel L. JacksonSamuel L. JacksonSamuel Leroy Jackson is an American film and television actor and film producer. After becoming involved with the Civil Rights Movement, he moved on to acting in theater at Morehouse College, and then films. He had several small roles such as in the film Goodfellas before meeting his mentor,...
as Dr. Harry Adams - Liev SchreiberLiev SchreiberIsaac Liev Schreiber , commonly known as Liev Schreiber, is an American actor, producer, director, and screenwriter. He became known during the late 1990s and early 2000s, having initially appeared in several independent films, and later mainstream Hollywood films, including the Scream trilogy of...
as Dr. Ted Fielding - Peter CoyotePeter CoyotePeter Coyote is an American actor, author, director, screenwriter and narrator of films, theatre, television and audio books. His voice work includes narrating the opening ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympics and Apple's iPad campaign. He has also served as on-camera co-host of the 2000 Oscar...
as Capt. Harold C. Barnes - Queen LatifahQueen LatifahDana Elaine Owens , better known by her stage name Queen Latifah, is an American singer, rapper, and actress. Her work in music, film and television has earned her a Golden Globe award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Image Awards, a Grammy Award, six additional Grammy nominations, an Emmy...
as Alice "Teeny" Fletcher - Marga GómezMarga GomezMarga Gomez is a Puerto Rican/Cuban-American comedian, playwright, and humorist. She is openly lesbian....
as Jane Edmunds - Huey LewisHuey LewisHuey Lewis is an American musician, songwriter and occasional actor.Lewis sings lead and plays harmonica for his band Huey Lewis and the News, in addition to writing or co-writing many of the band's songs...
as Helicopter pilot - Bernard Hocke as Seaman
- James Pickens, Jr.James Pickens, Jr.James Pickens, Jr. is an American actor. He is best known for his starring role as Dr. Richard Webber on the ABC drama television series Grey's Anatomy, and for his supporting role as Deputy Director Alvin Kersh on later seasons of the Fox Network science fiction series The X-Files.- Early life...
as O.S.S.A. Instructor - Michael Keys Hall as O.S.S.A. Official
- Ralph TabakinRalph TabakinRalph Tabakin was an American actor, engineer, and World War II veteran. Born in San Antonio, Texas, he was the middle child in a family of five. They would also live in New Orleans, Louisiana, before moving and settling in Richmond, Virginia...
as O.S.S.A. Official
Reception
Sphere currently holds a 12% fresh rating at Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, with an average score of 4.1/10 and it currently holds the worst reviewed rating of Dustin Hoffman's movies along with Ishtar
Ishtar (film)
Ishtar is a 1987 American comedy film directed by Elaine May and starring Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman as "Rogers and Clarke" – a duo of incredibly untalented lounge singers who travel to Morocco looking for work, and stumble into a four-party Cold War standoff.It also starred Isabelle Adjani...
.
Soundtrack
The score for Sphere was composed by Elliot GoldenthalElliot Goldenthal
Elliot Goldenthal is an American composer of contemporary classical music. He was a student of Aaron Copland and John Corigliano, and is best known for his distinctive style and ability to blend various musical styles and techniques in original and inventive ways...
.
Track listing
- Pandora's Fanfare (1:17)
- Main Titles (2:49)
- Event Entry 6-21-43 (0:53)
- The Gift (1:42)
- Sphere Discovery (2:08)
- Visit to a Wreckage (1:58)
- Water Snake (2:36)
- Terror AdagioTempoIn musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...
(3:24) - Wave (3:18)
- Fear Retrieval (3:48)
- Andante (2:20)
- Manifest Fire (3:48)
- Manifest3 (3:47)
- Their Beast Within (1:44)
Crew credits
- Music composed and produced by Elliot Goldenthal
- Orchestrated by Robert Elhai and Elliot Goldenthal
- Conducted by Stephen Mercurio and Jonathan Sheffer
- Recorded and mixed by Joel Iwataki
- Electronic music produced by Richard Martinez
- Film Music Editor: Curtis Roush
- Additional orchestrations by Deniz Hughes