Solaris

Erm...help?!?

Is this film really really good, and I was too asleep to appreciate this, or was it really as bad as my gut feeling told me?

Clooney arrives on the ship with two clearly disturbed crew members. Instead of doing what I would do - Tazer their asses, turn the AI back on and head for home, he talks to them. For hours.

"They're not human, and I'm threatened by that." Then why are you a deep space explorer, love? Surely you're going to encounter non-humans eventually. Excellent first contact procedure though. Bombard them with Higgs particles to destroy them, simultaneously using up your ship's fuel so you can't go home. Brilliant!

It's like all the weird, spooky bits from 2001. Except they kept this going for the entire movie. I think there was about five lines of dialogue in the entire film, it's mostly just mood pieces. You can see the references, like when Clooney is approaching the ship, in his spacesuit, the lights from the control panel are reflected in his visor. A clear 2001 reference. Also the feeling of isolation and desolation permeate through the film, but this meant I couldn't relate to the characters or feel anything for them.

Ultimately this left me disappointed. Whereas 2001 was just as enigmatic, at least there was a sort of answer at the end of the movie, and subsequent movies/books explained what the Sam Hill was going on. This just felt confusing, but not in a clunky way. The film is very beautifully made, excellent camera work and mood pieces. It just leaves you confused at the ending(s).

Also, thinking back, the whole "you won't understand until it happens to you" think annoyed me. How hard is it to say "memories come to life" or "my child is here" or "I see dead people"???

There are other faults. The female doctor (name escapes me) if first shown being very paranoid about him coming into her room, and agrophobic. Yet ten minutes later she's happily sitting in the conference room, chatting away.

OQ: I didn't think it was possible, but this both sucks and blows at the same time. And not in a good 'Jenna Jameson' kind of way.

Score: D