Review: Solaris 451
Lem's novel is a really good work of sci-fi, not light reading but worth the effort to comprehend. The new Solaris movie is only 90-odd minutes long, and at that it's too long.
Comparisons will be made to 2001 and Apocalypse Now, two other slow-moving, philosophical movies. The problem is that both of those movies actually had interesting things to say, and managed to keep the viewer's attention despite being slow-paced. Solaris is simply slow. Long sections of the movie have no dialog and no background sounds whatsoever. When there is background music, it lacks the classical majesty of 2001 and is actually a bit annoying. These flaws might be forgivable if we were truly interested in the plot, but we aren't: it's a trivial love story, told many times before. (Most of the interesting parts of Lem's book have been sliced away to leave only the love tale, and the sci-fi twist is not enough to save it, IMHO.) I found myself nodding off during parts of the movie.
A couple of the reviews I read didn't quite grasp what was going on, especially the end. I found it quite clear and straightforward: the movie gives you plenty of clues so there shouldn't be any doubt left in your mind when the credits roll. Admittedly I approached the film with substantial knowledge about the book, but... it should have been clear to anyone.
Overall: it's pretty. The effects are well-done, at least you aren't short-changed there. As far as sci-fi movies go, it isn't bad - there have been so many worse sci-fi movies that I'll take whatever I can get. And at least they had the decency to make it short; if this movie were 2.5 hours long instead of 1.5, it would be intolerable. I'd recommend it to sci-fi fans. I'm not sure I'd recommend it for non-fans, however; if you want a love story, go see Ghost or something.
Tarkovsky's Solyaris (Score:5, Informative)
Andrei Tarkovsky has made incredible movies that leave undeletable impressions on your mind. Here is the imdb links to Tarkovsky's Solyaris [imdb.com]
In Short (Score:3, Informative)
American Beauty made profound statements during its 122 minutes, whereas Solaris could have had a similar impact if it were 4 minutes long.
Re:Invisible Car?! (Score:1, Informative)
I would assume that for something like this to work one could either have a designeted target, keep tracking where he is and adjust the image accordingly or have directional emiters (like what is used for airport aproach lights or those weird holograms in credit cards) and actually output a higher brightness than the original input in order to compensate for the area that is not lit
in any case, current technology isn't likely to produce something that is completely invisible, just something that one may not notice agains a background.
That review sucked. (Score:2, Informative)
A more enlightening review can be found here [bigempire.com].
The filthy critic hasn't let me down yet... see review for DAD [bigempire.com]
1 LARGE REASON NOT TO SEE SOLARIS (Score:1, Informative)
My review (short) (Score:5, Informative)
Bad Things:
Overall: 5/10 Watch it when you are in the mood for a SLOW thinker flick.
RTFB (Score:5, Informative)
Long answer - Kelvin is sent to a station (not a space station, but rather a station that float above the planet named Solaris by using antigravity... Now, he enters the station where there supposed to be 3 people. Finds one of them who talks all crazy and tells Kelvin to wait a little to understand what is going on. Apparently one of the 3 people is dead (suicide). Kelvin waits, reads notes etc. goes to sleep, wakes up and sees his long dead wife (10 years ago commited suicide because of Kelvin leaving her...) He is scared, tries to escape her, she goes through a steel plate not to be left behind, and, oh, btw., her wounds heal very quickly. He jettisons her into an orbit in a small rocket (which she almost dismantles before it leaves the station.) Now, he thinks he's crazy and with some complicated scientific calculations proves to himself that he is not. It is all about Solaris - a planet covered with some bio-mass ocean that can be anything and is very powerfull (for example it stabilizes its own planet's orbit in a binary star system.) The ocean apparently is studying people or maybe just toing with them, in any case we do not know what it is doing, if it means to do it or if it just happens to do it without even realizing anything.
Kelvin's dead wife comes back the next morning (binary star system btw.) So he tries to approach this logically but remembers his love to her and doesn't know what to think to do whatever. Another scientist on the station finds out how to destabilize the field that holds neutrinoes that the clones are made of, and by doing so how to destroy the clones. Anyway, at the end
Re:Slightly Offtopic (Score:5, Informative)
You still have a problem since there is more than one "proper" pronounciation of latin words. There is classical or antiquarian pronunciation, christian or ecclesiastical pronunciation and protestant or english pronunciation. I'm not that familiar with classical pronunciation (I know it pronunces "v" as "w", "c"'s are hard like "k" etc), the protestant pronunciation method is to just say it how it looks to you, christian pronunciation is that used by the Catholic church. Using the catholic church method i believe you would say the "o" as in "for" not "go" the "a" as in "car" and the "i" as "ee" as in "feet". In other words like most other latin words used in english if you do it "right" only your parish priest even understands what you just said, or you come across as showing off - save the latin pronunciation for when you are using it in a latin sentance.
attention span (Score:3, Informative)
I dont think hollywood audiences have the attention span to see all that Lem encompasses, which might make them think a bit too much, but surely they can stomach a little more than this!
You're wrong.
During the screening I went to, dozens of people walked out. More than one person said "That Sucked" right at the end. I didn't hear anyone say anything good about it.
I thought it was good, but it wasn't nearly as complete as I had hoped (as, I think you're saying).
Re:wtf (uh.. spoilers) (Score:5, Informative)
It establishes Chris and Rhea's relationship. The first thing he noticed about her wasn't that she was a pretty girl, but that she was carrying, of all things, a doorknob. This demonstrates that their relationship will be unconventional.
What was the physicist-girl's creation that kept knocking around in her room?
That's not important to the story, so it was deliberately left to your imagination. Note, also, her line, "I never get used to these... resurrections." She's definitely got some serious issues.
Why did Chris' wife always have this creepy-ish plastic grin through the first half of the movie?
Because she's flirting with Chris. Women-- and men, for that matter-- who are attracted to you often smile for no apparent reason. It's possible that you might not be aware of this if you've never seen it in real life.
What the hell happened to the security detail that was sent in before Chris got there?
They disappeared.
The guy that was there said the security detail got there and killed one guy, but... where did the security detail go after that??
They disappeared. Any more time spent wondering about this will be classified under "missing the point."
And what about the guy they said just disappeared? that he simply wasn't on the ship anymore? what happened to him?
He also disappeared. This is what I meant by "missing the point."
Re:Bad adaptation (Score:3, Informative)
Also there was too much reliance on silly cinematography tricks. Too many blurred shots, too many false colorations and filters it goes on and on.
Clooney also had a hard time trying to carry the movie, his acting wasn't that good but the women will probably enjoy his ass.
The most ineresting character in the movie was played by jeremy davies. Anytime he was onthe screen it was a movie worth watching.
Re:wtf (Score:3, Informative)
my schematic review (Score:2, Informative)
First good things.
1) The portrayal of future, everything that's concerned with little details like the PDAs that people on the train use and costumes that upper-class people wear on the night out -- everything like that is superb. Creates an atmosphere quite nicely.
2) The beam generator (what's its name?) they built on the station to destroy the visitors uses some cables with BNC connectors. I think this is a great detail. They've built it out of *real* spare parts and it shows.
3) The image of the Rheya is well done for the most part. Both Rheya's actually. Natascha McElhone did a really good job and she is fit for the role.
4) Snow is great. Kudos to Jeremy Davies.
5) In case you are wondering why the hell did they move the station from the surface of the planet to the orbit -- there is an explanation to that.
Which brings us to the second part. What sucked.
1) Changes where made to the plot. Horrible changes.
1.1) See 5 above. Of course it must be on the orbit: the mass of Solaris started growing exponentially, you see. Of course it did, honey.
1.2) Was it a happy ending? Was it an attempt to make a happy end which doesn't seem so happy? It's an ending which really screwed it up. Sorry.
1.3) Anyone remembers that scene from Simpsons, when they leave Australia and a coala is flying back with them, evil grin on his face? I kind of hoped that we won't see an ending like that again.
2) Clooney doesn't work in this role. And no, I didn't like his naked butt.
3) Not a single shot of the ocean surface. Yes, Solaris is a planet covered with Ocean. It is beautiful too. But that's in book, not in the movie. The movie only shows you a plasma lamp, er, star, er... planet? from the orbit.
4) Yes, the book makes you think about God. Sometimes quite explicitly. Throwing in one conversation cut before it actually makes sense and one scene referencing Michelangelo's painting does not make sense and feels taken out of context.
I guess here is what I'm trying to say: this movie would work beautifully if it was more friendly to the book. Hero's memories of his life with Rheya on Earth a well done and are very enjoyable for someone who read the book. Unfortunately people who have read the book will be alienated by weird changes to the story which don't really make much sense.
I don't know how this film works for people who have not read the book.
Re:Slightly Offtopic (Score:1, Informative)
Of course, I was referring to Cicero's Latin as defined by Wheelock's Latin textbook.