Solaris (DVD Screening)

(Spoilers)

I had never heard about this film until very recently, I stumbled upon the trailer on another one of my DVDs and when I spotted it in the second hand DVD shop I thought I may as well give it ago – it was only 50p. I thought it looked like a Gravity from 10 years ago, simply because it featured George Clooney in space however Solaris is not like Gravity, Gravity is good, Solaris isn’t.

Solaris begins pretty much immediately, earlier than most films, no fluffy introductions here, but straight into the story.  This left me confused for the majority of the film, and half the time I was just wondering what the flip was going on! I think that the biggest issue I had with Solaris was that there was no character development. As a result of this I didn’t find any of the characters likeable and I found it hard to identify with them because of this fact.  Some insight were gained on the characters through flashbacks however this seemed more just to highlight the relationship between Chris and Rheya.  I didn’t feel anything for the characters as they struggled to work out what was happening, who was real and where they where, this was probably because I was doing the same thing.  I am unsure if this was intended or not and I do enjoy a certain element of this in movies however I was left confused the whole time and I had to take to the internet afterwards to read a synopsis, thankfully clearing things up for me.

This synopsis made Solaris seem like a fantastic film though! I was surprised because I found the whole thing terribly boring. The most exciting part to this film was when Clooney’s character said the word ‘sharks’ yes, it was that dull. The film was always on the same level, and it just dragged on.  There were no rises in tension or more emotional moments stressed it was all fairly level for me and it didn’t take me anywhere as a viewer.  I have heard that the original version is much better, and I can imagine it would be as it wouldn’t take much to better this 2002 version.  However the score by Cliff Martinez at least brings something to the scenes in space and was an enjoyable accompaniment to the film, and probably the only enjoyable thing about this film.  Of course Clooney’s performance was also great but im afraid it was going to take more than George to save this sci-fi flick from flopping.

BIGGEST FLAW – Poor character development/introductions

BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT – Good score

For me Solaris was dull, and that was really all it had to it.

Rating – 2/10