YAWN!

Stinkingly bad!

0 out of 5.

D


I am not a big fan of Tarkovsky's original, but at least it presented very original and intriguing ideas, paired with a nice ending, while still being a bad adaptation of its source material. Stanislav Lem's original novel was much more of a sci-fi book than both movies make it seem. This Solaris is just a pure bore. There are nice visuals, especially of Solaris itself, but that is pretty much the only redeeming feature of the whole movie. I don't remember ever looking at my watch as often as I did during this movie.

Terrible.

I dunno, I though it was pretty exceptional. It's basically just a streamlined version of Tarkovsky's film, but it retains all of the important themes and ideas while still managing to blaze its own trail. It's not really a sci-fi work - neither was the original - but it still manages to provide some interesting scientific ideas, as well as pure visual eye candy. But, as in the original, this film is almost completely psychological. It really only diverges from Tarkovsky's film near the end, but the themes it brings up in the last twenty minutes or so are devastating and thoughtful. Though I love, love, love the last shot of the original, in some ways the ending here is better. It's more ambiguous, more interesting, and more powerful. It reminded me of the end to 2001 in a lot of ways. I think this film has an unfortunate reputation: sure it's slow, confusing, and - dare I say - boring, but if you watch it carefully, and really think about what it's saying, I don't see how you can't be affected by it. One of the best sci-fi works, remakes, and even films I've ever seen.

OMG, trixster - - come back!!!

Yes, I'm very sorry to have disappointed you Bradford, since you've got such excellent taste in film.

It's not just me, trixster - - your Solaris review is a stain on the whole of KJ.

You are probably the biggest hypocrite on the whole of the internets. Bravo.

Anyways, trixster is correct. Soderbergh's Solaris is a masterpiece, and it co-exists perfectly with Tarkovsky's film. There is nothing "boring" about it.

You know, I felt the same way when it came out...

There was a serious backlash to this film; I don't remember why - maybe because it bombed, was too heavily marketed for the subject matter, whatever. But, when I saw it, I swear it was my favorite movie of the month. Two of my friends felt the same way. If we we were one of the cliques on that map Janis hands Caty in Mean Girls, we were definitely "Weird kids who liked Solaris."

(Or, at least that's how we wanted to be known, but no one cared besides "Rotten Tomatoes is my bible" hipsters).

I saw it six months later and didn't like it. Partly because I wanted to disassociate myself from my two friends, partly because I was more ADD and Matrix Reloaded was right around the corner, partly because it is, truly, a mess of a movie.

Nonetheless...Solaris builds a connection - in a weird, abstract, almost stream of conscious-like way - with the audience that hasn't been matched by any other Soderbergh film. Its roughness is certainly its strength.

I saw it at the first screening on opening day and was one of the few people in the theatre who sat throught the entire film - - people were not just walking out, they were loudly cursing as they left.

Still, if some of you managed to get some enjoyment out of this POS, then all power to you - - but "best movie ever" - - C'MON!!!

I am not big on Tarkovsky's original, but I can understand its intentions and see the art in it.

The remake, however, is just crap.

I guess I need to see this

It'll be a good measure of how much to the darkside I have fallen

K, first of all, I never said "best movie ever". I said "one of the best films I've seen", which is pretty different.

And I'll just use one of your standardized responses to the number of people who disliked this film - "I know it's popular to hate on it". Do you not realize how hypocritical you're being?

And Shack, you found The Thin Red Line to be unwatchably boring, so you probably won't like this. Just sayin'.

Hard to say, my issue with the Thin Red Line was not that it was arty. It was that the characters and stories were all flat and the narration made it one of the more pretentious movies I've seen. And I generally don't like war movies. I do have love for the Lynch movies I've seen, I'm Not There, etc.

Glad to see you're coming around.



Errr... I hate this movie because I watched it - - on opening day ... before reading a review... because I'm a fan of artsy sci-fi - - not because it's "popular" to do so. I reserve my criticism for those who don't give an unpopular movie a chance, and especially for those who don't even bother seeing them before dissing them (hard to believe, but that has happened quite frequently here at KJ)...



Oh, oh... those issues don't bode well for your enjoyment of Solaris (2002) - - but I hope that you do get a chance to see it - - I'd love to hear your review...