Today we watched the movie 'Solaris' which, although had some interesting points, I found first off to be just ok. However, when I thought about it more I felt as if I didn't like it at all.
The plot had a shrink named Chris who traveled to a space station that Earth had lost contact with. His task, was to assess the crew's behavior and find out why they were acting weirdly. However, Chris soon discovers that the crew bring to life people in their thoughts whenever they sleep and that they soon take a physical form. Thus the movie asks the question, who is real and who isn't?
Even with this interesting plot, I felt as if the movie didn't go anywhere and that the things it brought up never resolved themselves. The cinematography and direction also weren't that good, as it had far too many lingering shots of characters doing nothing and film that didn't need to be in there. Thus for a hour and a half movie it felt as if it dragged the whole way through.
George Clooney, as the main character was a good actor as usual, but the rest of the cast varied from good to bad as was the case with the actress who played Chris's wife. Granted, this could have been the intended direction as she's meant to be one of his creations and thus her behavior appears unusual.
The thing is, I'm always up for interesting thought provoking plots, as is the case with one of my favourite movies 'Inception', the ending to which made both the audiences I watched it with sigh audible when the tension was over. However, for a movie to be thought provoking it needs to keep your interest. Thus, since 'Solaris' was, in my opinion boring with nothing happening it merely made the experience of watching feel a waste of time, plus it seemed a waste of a good plot.
I wonder if the original movie it is based on does a better job of conveying the plot without the movie trying to be arty as the recent one does.
Though don't take my words to mean that all movies without action are boring. There are many great movies that only involve dialogue, but it is between interesting and well rounded characters as is the case with many of Hitchcock's movies, especially 'Rope' in which the whole film comprises of many static shots that work because it holds tension and keeps its focus on the characters who are talking, something that 'Solaris' frequently forgets to do .
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