Solaris | | Cast : | George Clooney, Natascha McElhone, Ulrich Tukur | | Director : | Steven Soderbergh | | Studio : | Twentieth Century Fox Home Video | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen | | Released Date : | November 27, 2002 | | DVD Released Date : | September 07, 2004 | | Language : | Spanish (Dubbed), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Original Language), French (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | May 13, 2005 | | Summary | Soderbergh Pays Tribute... | Content
 | As several other reviewers have noted, Soderbergh's Solaris is as much a tribute to 2001: A Space Odyssey as it is to the Russian original. Like 2001, it uses the trappings of science fiction to ponder the big questions in life. Like 2001, the pace is slow and languid, and may be a turn-off to many Sci-Fi buffs. Unlike 2001, Solaris lacks an explosive climax like the sequence in 2001 where Dave communes with the Monolith. But the ending of the film (which I won't give away) provides the kind of emotional payoff that Kubrick was incapable of ever giving to his viewers.
Clooney, breaking from his usual role of charming cad, plays Chris Kelvin, tormented by the suicide of his wife Rheya, played by the luminescent Natascha McElhone (currently being wasted in NBC's dismal doomsday drama, Revelations). Soderbergh is obviously enchanted by McElhone's saucer eyes and womanly radiance and he clearly wants us to be as well. Huge chunks of the movie are composed of tight shots of McElhone's alluring gaze and mischievous, toothy grin. You never knew hard SciFi could be so sexy...
Kelvin's grief has broken him, and the film shows him sleepwalking through life. But his stupor is broken when he is summoned to a space station orbiting the planet Solaris to deal with an undisclosed emergency. When he arrives he finds only two remaning members, Gordon (Viola Davis), a senior officer consumed by raging paranoia, and Snow (the always terrific Jeremy Davies), a manic stoner/geek type, given to Method-y tics and spontaneous outbursts. He soon discovers that Solaris is recreating flesh and blood apparitions of the crew's loved ones and that phenomena has led to the crisis about the station. Following a tantalizing dream sequence where the courtship of Chris and Rheya is replayed (made even more hypnotic by Cliff Martinez' mesemerizing score), Chris finds himself unknowingly making love to the reincarnated Rheya. He wakes to find her in his bed and the drama begins.
This is a very talky movie and the viewer is required to pay attention. But what Soderbergh is striving to do is create a sense of absolute reality, so the incredible nature of Solaris' regenerative power can be made manifest. Instead of injecting the story with the kind of nauseating "action" pap that Hollywood bilge like Paycheck or Total Recall inflicts on poor, blameless Philip K Dick, Soderbergh goes in the exact opposite direction and uses intimacy and mundanity to drive home the metaphysical drama.
This is a film that Dick would have loved, and is more in tune with his ouevre than with Stanislaw Lem's (who write the original story). What hasn't been commented on however is the big issues that Solaris ultimately raises. Solaris produces these pseudo-people ultimately to colonize other worlds, a fact that Gordon raises in a row with Chris. I want humanity to win, she says cryptically, and Chris doesn't realize the full weight of those worlds until the film's conclusion. If Solaris produces humans simply to colonize other worlds, why does Earth?
Solaris' pleasures are many. Martinez's soundtrack is one of the most beautiful in recent memory. The acting is flawless and the chemistry between Clooney and McElhone is hypnotic. The film's few special effects are artfully done. The DVD's extras are extraneous and actually detract from the power and majesty of the film, so don't watch them together. |
| Rating | | | Date | April 25, 2005 | | Summary | If you liked 2001 Space Odyssey you might like this ... | Content
| ... then again, maybe not.
This is the story of a space station where the crew has cut off communications with earth. A security force is sent to investigate but disappears - unfortunately we never find out where they disappeared to or even if they came to harm. George Cloony plays Chris Kelvin, a civilian psychologist on earth. He is approached and asked to go to the space station to investigate what is happening with the crew and, since one of the crew members is a close friend of his, they think he may be able to assist the crew from a psychological standpoint and save the mission. Okay, so you can see we're already on pretty shaky ground here. Civilian with no training and trips to outer space don't mix well.
Anyway, When he arrives on the ship there are just two crew members left. His friend has already committed suicide by the time he gets there and there is no mention of anyone else or anything else regarding what may have happened to other people. Anyway, the two remaining crew members don't appear in the movie much after the initial opening. The remainder of the movie is focused on his relationship with his dead wife who mysteriously appears on the ship in his locked room. That's just the opening, and it doesn't get much better.
There are lots of scenes where they just stare at each other without speaking. Everything is dark - you feel like saying "why doesn't anyone turn on the lights!" You wonder if anything is ever going to happen. It was one of the quietest, darkest movies I've ever watched - highly reminiscent of 2001 Space Odyssey. Some people may like this movie, but I'm willing to bet a higher percentage will be on the fence like I am, or just plain dislike it.
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| Rating | | | Date | March 22, 2005 | | Summary | Intriguing concept falls totally flat. | Content
| The basic premise has been seen before: a small isolated group of people is visited by apparitions from their past. In this case, a psychologist from Earth is assigned to a space station orbiting a strange planet (sun?) called Solaris, to sort out what has been driving the crew to suicide and murder. By the time he gets there, only two crew-members remain alive - and he starts getting visits from an alien impersonating his dead wife. It doesn't take him long to form an emotional attachment to her, even though he knows on an intellectual level that it can't really be her. She acknowledges that she's formed out of his memories of her - so, even if he remembers some things wrong, that's how she'll appear - and this could have been interesting to explore. But we never learn much more than that - what these aliens really are, whether their intention is malevolent or benign, what they really want - and in fact, we never learn much of *anything* in this movie. It's all scenery (and not very interesting scenery, at that), long meaningless pauses, unpleasant background music; it drags endlessly toward absolutely no resolution. By the end (finally!), you're not even sure what really happened. I suppose that was the point, but it's neither insightful nor satisfying. Had this story been condensed into half an hour, it might have been a nice "mood piece" - but movie-length, it was just soporific. The only reason I give it two stars instead of one, is due to the pure visual appeal of George Clooney and Natascha McElhone. But this is not a vehicle worthy of Clooney's talents, nor is it enjoyable science fiction. |
| Rating | | | Date | March 11, 2005 | | Summary | Thoughtful science fiction | Content
| If you are looking for the gung-ho, high action, special effect filled type of science fiction film then forget this. If you like your sci-fi to be more thought provoking then this is for you.
Starring George Clooney the movie is about a space station orbiting the planet Solaris. Things start to change, the crew are going mad and no-one can figure out the problem. It is decided to send a psychiatrist (Clooney) to the stricken station to try and resolve the problem. However Clooney, when he gets to Solaris, is visited by his dead wife. Is he starting to lose his mind or is his wife real? That is the mystery of Solaris.
A slow, but thoughtful film that is well worth watching and certainly not deserving the savage criticism given by some.
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| Rating | | | Date | March 02, 2005 | | Summary | sad but true | Content
| I nearly fell asleep in the first 20 minutes, and frankly I could not get past those first 20. I wanted very much to like this film because it seemed like an interesting premise/idea. The Russian original was certainly to my liking. Unfortunately, though, this was just very dry and difficult to follow. |
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