Based on popular author Michael Crichton’s 1987 novel of the same title, Sphere (1993) by director Barry Levinson takes one to explore an alien entity deep down in the ocean, only to turn the focus of attention inward and then… nowhere. The journey is supposed to be exploratory and meaningful. But what does it really achieve in the tradition of sci-fi and thriller/horror storytelling on the big screen?

Set in the depth of the Pacific Ocean where the government takes a small team of experts to study a crashed spaceship, Sphere starts roughly along the line of Alien (1979) or any Star Trek episode, where some new territory and/or entity needs expert examination. In this familiar storyline, the sci-fi audience is usually in the mood for some hostile enti...

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