Sphere (1998): Why Did It Bomb? | Video Essay

[@maltesefalconpunch2804]

Heyo! No you’re not alone I think about this movie all the time. It was one of my favorite books as a kid and honestly I think the movie is great. I never understood the hate for it, it’s such a unique film

[@luisrizo8813]

Another fun fact: Dustin Hoffman being scheduled for this and BL's previous film "Wag the dog" resulted in DH being unable to play John Quincy Adams for Steven Spielberg in "Amistad"; one of the few times he likely recently has never gotten his first choice.

[@razzz00]

The Sphere book is awesome and the film is one of my favourite films of all time... there is something eerie and special about this story. Michael Crichton knew things we did not...

[@ryanmccullion7367]

Loved this movie. Underrated

[@MegazoneMusic23]

NO! You are not alone in your assessment of this film. It was a great movie that caused you to take an honest look at the possibilities of humanity and black holes. I loved it ;)

[@seidruzic7311]

You’re definitely not alone. Just finished reading the book again after more than 20 years; I always liked the film, probably because of my long time love towards Dustin Hoffman as an actor. I think the movie caputred brilliantly the claustrophobic atmosphere of the book. Plus I think the main intention of the author of the book - Michael Crichton - and therefore the screenwriters was mainly drama about people under tremendous stress and not some action packed sci fi thriller. Plus, let’s not forget the time when the movie was originally released in the US theatres - it was about the time when “Titanic” was still no. 1 movie at the box office. :)

[@dupre7416]

I would also recommend the book to folks that like a slow-building sci-fi mystery/horror. It's a fine story.

[@siegeofdarkness8212]

My favorite part of the book and the film is that it deals with arguably the coolest (and most difficult to explore) super power in all of fiction, and it's not time travel. It's reality manipulation

[@evm6177]

This is the movie, Copycat Nolan's entire 'They' concept from Interstellar, and DeCaprio's fear manifesting to sabotage the mission in Inception. As well as the 'future people' idea from Tenet. Cooper - "They didn't choose me Tars, they placed the Tesseract next to the singularity hoping I would fall into the blackhole and send the message to Murph.. Because of our connection the watch I gave it to her." Also Cooper - "Who are they?" Dr. Brand - "I can't tell you unless you join the mission." Romely - "What's a three dimensional circle Cooper?" Together - "A Sphere!"

[@PantsofVance]

I saw this movie as a teenager in theaters and it freaked me out, since it dealt with fear of the unknown and the inability to control your own mind, even for highly intelligent scientists and mathematicians. I've always liked the concept that Crichton proposed and I ended up reading the book as well. Stories that present a lot of possibilities but you never find out the true origins are always interesting to me, namely when it comes to the sphere's origin. Where did it come from, who made it, how did the spaceship come across it, etc. are questions you find yourself asking. To me, it's possible that whatever race created the sphere could not control it and was destroyed by it, which could be analogous to humans and nuclear weapons. Anyone who enjoys the movie or the book is cool with me!

[@gregorpfueller6659]

Nope! Loved it ever since it came out when i was 15 years old… connected with it immediately… unfortunately i skipped it in theatres and only picked it up as a rental… but i think i‘ve seen it a dozen times since then and got all the releases it got which were not many… hell it didn’t even get a blu ray release where i live (germany) so i had to import it… Elliot Goldenthals score is fantastic and one of the reasons why i love it so much…

[@parkeaudio1338]

I’ll never forget the scene where they go through the books and it’s empty past page 87, I don’t know why but that always stuck with me

[@theloreaxe]

I have loved this movie since I first saw it at a theater when I was 13. The box office poison thing always perplexed me.

[@tetrisking8054]

I read the book as a kid and loved it and just recently watched the film for the first time and couldn’t understand why everyone said it was so bad, it’s quite faithful to the novel and I thought was well executed and entertaining.

[@evm6177]

This is the scene, Copycat Nolan's entire 'They' concept from Interstellar, and DeCaprio's fear manifesting to sabotage the mission in Inception. As well as the 'future people' idea from Tenet. Cooper - "They didn't choose me Tars, they placed the Tesseract next to the singularity hoping I would fall into the blackhole and send the message to Murph.. Because of our connection the watch I gave it to her." Also Cooper - "Who are they?" Dr. Brand - "I can't tell you unless you join the mission." Romely - "What's a three dimensional circle Cooper?" Together - "A Sphere!"

[@captmaverickable]

Sphere showed the power of the mind. What you believe is what you subconsciously project into your reality. The movie watching collective was not ready for that in the late 1990’s especially from Michael Crichton. They wanted another amusement ride to safely take them on a roller coaster of emotions and a dumb ending that would not make them question everything.

[@dreamfall77]

The sphere didn’t just show, but showed the shortest path to this. Movie characters: “Humanity is not ready for this yet”

[@shlomomarkman6374]

I didn't see the movie when it was released as I wasn't shown where I lived but I was shown 2 years later on cable TV and I recorded it. It was an interesting movie and it's ending made a perfect sense to me as it resolved both the dangers of reality warping powers and the time paradox. A significant part for the bombing was the release date. January/February release is almost a guaranteed bomb.

[@DanWA]

From release it, and The Abyss have been some of my favorite films of all time. Sure there are plot holes but it has a great atmosphere.

[@dirkmcgirk6508]

You deserve more subscribers! Keep at it!

[@UnderTheRadarMovies]

Thank you! That means the world to me.

[@luisrizo8813]

Rewatchability podcast discussed this in 2014 because both were Michael Crichton adaptations directed by Barry Levinson.

[@mohamednabeel8509]

@@UnderTheRadarMovies You're definitely not alone, I watch it once about 16 years ago and remember liking it very much, rewatched it few days and I really do like it, I like the scene when they confront Beth and accuse her of psychic behavior and the ending is actually touching, It also has a beautiful score.

[@callumbus7690]

I loved the sphere, the only thing is i wish we could of seen the giant squid

[@ThePeopleActual]

I've probably seen sphere like 300 times I have it on DVD and on my PS Vita😊 it sits as my 2nd favorite movie after EventHorizon.

[@paperstacksfilms]

Wish we could get a true directors cut of event horizon

[@casedistorted]

Really good essay/review

[@matthewwankdog87]

brilliant movie , and a fantastic ending , and will be reading the book soon

[@daveruda]

Its a product of its time. I think this movie could have been much stronger say 10-15 years later perhaps? Less of the 90s silly bagage. BUT its a hell of a lot less silly that its contemporaries. Its clever, well acted, good cast, special effects are ok for the time. It should not have been a bomb because its not a bad movie. Not even close.

[@BlackstarLore]

Just watched this movie. Loved it! Keep it going dude

[@luisrizo8813]

A review for this film inadvertently resulted in BL's next film "Liberty Heights"; Podcast like it's 1999 discussed the situation years ago.

[@paperstacksfilms]

Nah i just rewatched it after watching abyss and leviathan (which really was just the thing underwater) and this mivie was great. I loved it. Crichtons work is so underrated

[@janjud1828]

I liked it, enjoyed it. But moved on and yes, forgot it. Underrated and under appreciated.

[@bartrese]

I love this movie and book!

[@terribrad24]

Had no idea it bombed, thought it was great

[@Neo_Vandole]

I love the atmosphere it creates. People dissapointed with this film prolly expected aliens and action when the sphere was the perfect alien/alien thing you can imagine. Like the monolith from 2001 and the Marker from Dead Space. It's really iconic. Chapter transition is a bit rough here and there. Especially after the flooding of the station the movie looses me when they cut back to the kitchen and the people looking bored.

[@zorglubmagnus455]

Maybe because the wrong aspect ratio made everyone look like they had very long faces.

[@scottieman2]

Remember watching the movie in school.

[@SuperArmus]

I thought the resolution to the movie was great. I never understood why it bombed. One of my favorite movies for sure.

[@thedeesus4249]

You sold me on it

[@ragzilbragzilb6603]

I loved the movie even got the book by Michael Crichton

[@qetoun]

Need to this movie again now.

[@TheWillvoss]

I love the movie, bought the book a year ago. They tried their best but tentacle monsters would have likely scratched the itch of the dullard.

[@thomasmushi6304]

Back in the late 90s i read the novel of which the movie is based on, and it was not bad at all. To discover a movie was made has given me an itch that I need to scratch so bad!!

[@BunyipDude]

"Sphere" is one of my favorite novels by Michael Crichton (even though my 30-something self recognizes the flaws in his writing - mostly the dialogue), but this movie adaptation just didn't work for me. As a teenager, I remember my biggest annoyance being the fact that the giant squid never appears on-screen (except for synthetic aperture sonar imagery and the brief shot of its tail passing the habitat porthole), which feels like a cheap artistic trick.

[@Koujujutsu]

I read it for the first time this month. After having seen it back when it came out. Seeing the movie first kinda ruined the book for me but I delighted in the expansion of the story; and, the technical/logical aspects of Crichton's writing. (The man accomplished a hell of a lot in his lifetime.) What sticks is that the book was really concerned with not only presenting questions but also describing fear and paranoia. The experiments discussed early in book describe exactly why this group is unlikely to fall apart. And yet they fall apart because what they encounter changes/exposes who they are. I digress. The book and movie are fascinating. Would loved to have seen it as a Sci Fi Channel mini series, back in the day, that's closer to the book. Like Dune or The Triangle.

[@evm6177]

This is the scene, Copycat Nolan's entire 'They' concept from Interstellar, and DeCaprio's fear manifesting to sabotage the mission in Inception. As well as the 'future people' idea from Tenet. Cooper - "They didn't choose me Tars, they placed the Tesseract next to the singularity hoping I would fall into the blackhole and send the message to Murph.. Because of our connection the watch I gave it to her." Also Cooper - "Who are they?" Dr. Brand - "I can't tell you unless you join the mission." Romely - "What's a three dimensional circle Cooper?"

[@johnmichaelson9173]

Personally I thought the casting was awful, they just picked the wrong actor's for the roles. I'd already read the book & the actor's did not fit the roles, imho.

[@leightnite3056]

I've always dug this flick quite a bit.

[@codedlogic]

Love the book Like the movie. Every time I watch this I always feel like it is missing a beat. Like if they had kept the part of the story where Norm fights the giant squid that would serve as a great climax both for the sake of spectacle and narrative.

[@luisrizo8813]

An extra scene from a tv airing on the SciFi Channel in 2000 I believe.

[@luisrizo8813]

Isn't there a tv adaptation in the works?

[@MattEland]

I rather enjoyed Sphere, but I feel it didn't let its concepts linger. Compare it to Carpenter's The Thing and there's this clear distinction of paranoia that works and can breathe and a film that rushes from beat to beat with a few key exemptions such as the beautiful "we die down here" scene. I still love this film, but largely feel it was paced, edited, or directed in a way that wasn't compatible with its strengths.

[@paperstacksfilms]

I think it was a book adaptation and it tried to keep the books pacing maybe? I loved this movie but I can see how it's pacing wasn't for everyone

[@ericswain4177]

A bit to deep for the average Joe.

[@jeffs.s.]

I love sphere

[@Belzediel]

"To say that Sphere isn't everyone's cup of tea goes without saying." Are you for real? This is, like Korean AI, right?

[@MissHeathen]

what the hell is a techno-thriller?

[@Neo_Vandole]

it's about tech and talking about tech (programms/machines) in a thriller movie. Star Trek is known for having lots of "techno-babble". Scenes in which a problem in a machine is explained for minutes.

[@SlashRfnR]

yet Ridley learned nothing, and did the same thing in Prometheus...and then in alien covenant

[@saypuppy4266]

When I look at its ratings on rotten tomatoes, I just see a bunch of really nasty reviews from 2017.

[@phunkjnky]

Because Crichton wove an incredible story and ends it with everyone just agreeing to forget that it ever happened? I felt so ripped off when I got to the end. It's a regular thing with Crichton. He did it for "The Andromeda Strain" and "Congo" too. Fool me once, shame one you, fool me twice, shame on me, I don't what to call it having fallen for it three times. He writes incredible stories, and the sometimes can't come up with a good ending, so he comes up with a sort of "Deus Ex Machina" ending. I'm reading the comments, and everyone seems to love the story while ignoring the lack of payoff at the end.

[@benquinneyiii7941]

M113 açav Panzer IV

[@c.moriarty1178]

The acting in a lot of these clips is so wooden, like they're just reciting their lines. Liked the book but still haven't seen the movie outside of bits and pieces over the years

[@eivisch]

term guilty pleasures should be regarded for bad movies not for movies that didn't made gilizions $$$

[@Kruppt808]

Stupid ending. We saw it in theaters and hated they took an interesting movie and ruined it with oh hey btw ______. Me and my dad still laugh about how disappointed we were by it 25+ years later.

[@dreamfall77]

The ending is brilliant. Humanity is not yet ready to recognize absolute freedom of creativity.

[@spaveevo]

I thought it was a great movie. Very weird.

[@machaolesplendide]

Cause it was Bad. Anticlimactic ending

[@JamesBarry-j7m]

It just plain sucked

[@ghostlightx9005]

I really hated this one. Almost every role was badly mis-cast.

[@simonjulian6499]

Because it is pretty boring, I guess

[@hughjasse4047]

Wasn't one of Crichton's better stories, TBH

[@Yadickhead]

Audiences are dumb! Just look at all the remakes. Does anyone read Shakespeare anymore???