Somewhere out there, maybe there's a small cadre of film-goers who will appreciate Sphere 's dubious charms, but I'm not among them. Sphere starts out a little like an amalgamation of Contact and James Cameron's The Abyss , but, somewhere along the way, it collapses into the cellar with another recent science fiction effort, Event Horizon . Science and philosophy, which are used to good effect during Sphere 's first hour, give way to mindless, confusing action sequences. Attempts at characterization fall apart. Intelligent writing, which is evident early on, is replaced by hackneyed drivel.
Special effects take over as the plotline devolves into incoherent silliness.
But all that is just in preparation for the ending, which is inexcusably awful. This is the time-honored deus ex machina device used to its worst effect. I left the theater feeling cheated by the way Crichton and his screenwriters had chosen to end the film. There is some promise, but it's all in the setup. Together, the five descend into the bowels of the ocean, where they rendezvous with a temporary sea base on the ocean floor from which they will attempt to make first contact.