a better ending
I think a better ending would be if the sphere flew off and it showed it in space approaching a cluster of billions of other spheres.
shareI think a better ending would have been any other ending than what was shown.
Whenever a movie has a "mysterious something" in it and they end the movie without ever showing what was in it, or what the "mysterious something" was, those movies are usually ended badly. The movie has to be really skillfully and cleverly written to make it be satisfying in the end after not having blatantly exposed whatever the mystery was, and the writers usually have a very definite idea of what is in it, but they leave it up to the audience to figure it out. This movie, unfortunately, wasn't written cleverly enough to get away with that (not commenting on the book - just the way the people interpreted it to write the script). It's such a cheap-shot when they never show what the mysterious thing is...it's usually because they don't have a good enough explanation, they don't actually have a solid idea.
Harry does say, "there's nothing in the sphere, Beth, you know that, you've been inside it." I think that's as close to an explanation as we're ever going to get. A better question is, what is the sphere, and what is its purpose? I mean why would something, apparently made by aliens, be created in the first place that intrigues beings, plays on their fears, and ends up making them kill themselves/each other? What would the purpose of such a thing be? Maybe it was an alien weapon. It certainly isn't benign. Or, maybe it's neither malignant OR benign, it just brings out the nature of the beings who come into contact with it (humans are full of fear of death and so that's what gets focused on). But notice how it's awfully convenient that everyone underwater have fears that are congruent with their surroundings; how come no one had, say, a fear of giraffes? That would have been awfully interesting to see how that played out in a little underwater habitat 1,000 feet underwater!
The filmmakers didn't HAVE to really show what was inside the sphere (there was nothing to show, basically), but they could have at least hinted at the purpose of the sphere, like I just did. Instead, because they leave it SO open, it's literally a journey to nowhere. The people discover something, and it's one big convoluted, dream-twisted ride, which is scary at times, but in the end, they achieved nothing and got nowhere. They use the power they were given to "erase their memories," and the whole thing becomes literally pointless. Personally, I don't believe in "the future can't be changed" theory, and this movie actually proves why it doesn't work...if they "had the power to forget" right all along (they would HAVE to, otherwise they simply would have died like everyone else) then they would have realized that because of the "unknown" status on the report screen. They assumed it meant they died but they simply interpreted it wrong. That's a really cheap shot. If the future's set in stone, then the entire movie's pointless; they learn nothing, and then forget about it.
The whole reason the sphere flies off at the end is because they used the power to forget about it...basically negating the entire "adventure." They couldn't show it meeting up with other spheres because that would suggest something beyond what was shown is going on, and by their reasoning suggested in the movie, that the future is set in stone, that is the only ending possible. In fact, the sphere should have simply imploded and ceased to exist, rather than flying off, because flying off suggests that it has some kind of mission or something, or that it's returning with information. Which is another reason why it's a bad ending...we're shown this neat magical ball with inexplicable properties, but we never find out a thing about it. We're only shown what it does to some people, and that's it, the door's slammed in our faces. We're told that's the only way it ever could have been because the future's set and unchangeable. Some "adventure."
"Are you dong-e-a-fong?" "W-WHAT?" "Don't be a wong-i-mong-pong." "I'M NOT A WIMP!!"
LOL at the fear of giraffes.
shareAlthough I do like this movie, I think the entire thing feels rushed, including the ending. They are inside the spacecraft for a very short time. They only examine ONE ENTRY in the flight recorder. They take no samples of any materials, and so on. From what I've read here the book is much better, and though I've seen this movie a number of times since it came out I plan to read the book.
shareI am only commenting on your comment of "rushed" ... YES!!! absolutely!! I could have taken more more more of what was going on, and it could have been much more in depth. The whole thing went by too quickly, and I think that is partly why the rating here is as low as it is. (Of course, then people would be complaining that it was too slow and boring, and some folks are prolly there already LOLz) ..... Personally, I think Sphere could have made a decent miniseries. Say 8 - 16 hours worth of viewing. Slow, yes ... but then slow is the treatment this sort of story really needs.
that is all.
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Even though I like the idea of it imploding or something, how then would it exist to be found in the future to be brought back? It would be a paradox. So the only thing they could do is have it fly off so that it could be found again later on. I agree it's maddening.
shareSo you put a bad review score on its page here to "encourage" filmmakers try harder next time? Right.
As for Sphere, it is one of a kind. And I certainly have no problem with the artistic representation of it going away. Nor the fact just a few people didn't think about giraffes. The effects of Sphere might be selective for all we know. And the motives... thoughts... who cares... it's a damn sphere in a ship from the future. The ending is... unsatisfying. But that is a minor detail, as the experience itself was rather very satisfying.
As for the unchangeable future - all certain futures are past eventually. All past cannot be changed. Thus future cannot be changed. No, it is not written - you have to live it. And what you do now, is what's written for the past yourself.
As for the unchangeable future - all certain futures are past eventually. All past cannot be changed. Thus future cannot be changed.
For what we know, time travel could work like MWI (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Many-worlds_interpretation):
Nothing you do to the past has any effect on your time branch, because the universe branches at every point of your actions in the past, but those branches continue independently. So if you kill your grandfather, you'll be dead in all resulting universes, but when you return to your origin time branch, grandpa will be just as you left him.
So you can change the future, just not the one of your branch.
http://snipurl.com/god_kills_26500_children_every_day share
Yes... many-worlds-interpretation isn't particularly interesting because of that. And that's why I already said you cannot change it. It's not really "the future" when you change a future that you'll not live through.
shareThe Sphere is a gift.
For anyone who has experience with the Twilight Zone or just science fiction themes in general, there is a common sci-fi theme of "The Gift". Something (usually alien) that could benefit mankind, but is corrupted by Mankind's primitive and evil nature. The Sphere is exactly that. Give good people the power to make their dreams come true, and they turn it into murderous Squids, Jellyfish, and explosives. It's supposed to reflect just how primitive we really are and how even good people have evil thoughts tucked inside themselves. If you want examples, Frankenstein and E.T. share some of the attributes of it, and the Twilight Zone is wrought with episodes containing this theme.
I don't think explaining it all would have been good, as it would have basically been an episode of the Twilight Zone with better production values, leaving nothing to the imagination. Although a cryptic piece of info to help narrow it down would have helped definitely. Something like the OP said or seeing it crash land on another planet far away to start everything over would have been good. I know they showed the worm hole at the end, but it wasn't enough in my opinion.
Hope this helps.
>>>A better question is, what is the sphere, and what is its purpose? I mean why would something, apparently made by aliens, be created in the first place that intrigues beings, plays on their fears, and ends up making them kill themselves/each other? What would the purpose of such a thing be? Maybe it was an alien weapon. It certainly isn't benign.
This mystery is discussed among the characters in the BOOK. Some of that discussion shoulda been thrown in during decompression, it would have made this movie be less than the failure that it was; by putting those kind of questions out there for the audience to ponder it would be a true SciFi film instead of just a typical Hollywood thriller that needed a whole lotta editing.
one aspect of that dialogue pointed out that just because it resulted in "bad stuff" happening to us humans, doesn't mean it was designed to bring that out of whoever it affected. But also it doesn't mean it WASN'T.
- - -
Chipping away at a mountain of pop culture trivia,
Darren Dirt.
Wow I would have LOVED to see a "fear of giraffes" moment under da sea! Giant carnivorous giraffes swimming through the deep sea.
And yeah, the sphere ws kind of lame. The sphere just feels like a nifty-kewl curiosity that exists because the movie needs an alien artifact of some kind, not because they gave any thought to it. Any explanation would be better than this one, like say if they said it was some kind of alien game device for disciplining their minds, and our puny human brains couldn't handle it as well.
Yeah, with not going such an retarded ending this could easily been 9/10 or near perfect. You putted whole thing really well there what was really wrong with the movie imo.
shareHello...FROM THE FUTURE.
Loved your post, I second that the giraffe bit was hilarious. (It's also a good thing none of the deep-sea novices got too afraid of, y'know, the entire complex imploding under the pressure or something. I mean, besides the fact that the movie would be about twenty minutes long and end pretty abruptly.)
Or maybe it's neither malignant OR benign, it just brings out the nature of the beings who come into contact with it (humans are full of fear of death and so that's what gets focused on).
And thank goodness...I mean, how often do you see a science fiction story dramatize THAT insight into human nature?
Personally I'm totally baffled as to why the sphere picked that moment to depart for space. Best I can figure is that the above is wrong, the sphere always brings fear and death, and the REAL test is actually how long it takes for the people to decide to shun "the power" instead of greedily using it as a weapon or something. That demonstrates the maturity necessary for contact with whatever race created the sphere, the sphere detects they've hit "Step 3: Forget" and runs off home to deliver the information, and first-ever direct contact with an alien race is established...in some other movie, I guess. That was probably too exciting an idea for this one. share
That would be the dumbest method of first contact ever created, not to mention such power would give powers of a god to a better species. You dont give a nuclear weapon with an arm button to a cat to test if it will randomly stumble into it, literally no point to it.
The movie makes it pretty obvious as to why any of those tragic situations occurred, people were not ready to use it and didnt understand it. Nobody can blame the sphere for anything those 3 nutjobs did, i mean each of them seemed more antisocial and dysfunctional than the other, probably the worst people to make a contact with it.
and two obvious options for why it flies off
1 the crew wished it away, simple as that
2 the sphere feeling its not welcome flies off itself as it posses some basic form of inteligence
And seriously, aliens with this level of technology would be omniscient, from our perspective, no reason to send random yellow balls to us.
You dont give a nuclear weapon with an arm button to a cat to test if it will randomly stumble into it
You do if you have no morals and a strict ethos of advance or die. If an alien species doesn't particularly care about the well-being of those it contacts, it could simply divide the universe into "worthy" and "unworthy" and send a rather brutal mechanism to establish which species it would deign to contact. Just because something is abhorrent to us humans, that doesn't necessarily mean it will be so to a completely alien species.
Just to tweak the metaphor, give the cat the nuke and make the button something that will attract the cat (it's shaped like a mouse) but is clearly dangerous (say, it emits wolf pheromones.) Then see if the cat has the self-control to avoid the button or if it will allow its hunger/curiosity to overcome its survival instincts. A cat who can't control its desire to get the mouse despite being clearly marked (by the scent) as something to be avoided doesn't deserve to live under an ethos like the one I suggested in the previous paragraph. And if there are a sufficient number of nuclear bombs set up like this lying around, that cat is a danger to everyone within blast radius even if it somehow avoids that one bomb.
Don't get me wrong -- I love cats. They're adorable little monsters who will probably destroy the human race at some point just by sticking their whiskers in dangerous places. share
the sphere always brings fear and deathSounds a lot like the green sphere in Heavy Metal!
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Every person that served can be called a veteran, but not every veteran can be called a Marine. share
They should have just shown the sphere flying off into space and end it there. It was weird how they went back and showed a quick 2 or 3 second shot of the 3 people sitting in the room. That was unnecessary and made no sense.
sharehow come no one had, say, a fear of giraffes
If I were in that environment, I don't think I'd be worried about giraffes.
We're told that's the only way it ever could have been because the future's set and unchangeable.
I'm not sure the movie is saying that. The characters believe that, and are therefore condemning themselves to a repeat; possibly an infinite number of repeats, unless they alter their decision in one of them. share