If you think that there is a solution, you'll die here.
A review by Mike Shea Movie Rating: ( * * * * * ) DVD Rating: ( * * * * · )
We're surrounded by really bad movies. Our summers are filled with The Hulk and Charlies Angels 2 with only Matrix Revolutions and The Return of the King to save us. The box office for these movies explodes like a Michael Bay car chase conclusion, but the movies are soul-less vehicles of cash offering no real advancement of film over loud bright things on the screen with the occasional flash of skin. Movies like Solaris are rare. Solaris is a science fiction movie far more powerful than any Bruckheimer movie. It is smart, simple, and benefits the entire industry. Solaris is one of the best science fiction movies I've seen in years.
There is nothing typical about Solaris. Many people avoid it because it has George Clooney in it the same way they crucify Gigli for having Afflick and Lopez in it. Actors are paint. The story and the direction is what makes a movie. Actors just fill in the colors. Hating Wonder Boys because Michael Douglas is in it is like hating Surat's "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte" because it uses the color blue. Solaris proves this. With only six named characters, Solaris builds a powerful science fiction story with few special effects, no on-screen violence, no explosions, and no action. It reminded me of Hitchcock's Notorious, a spy movie where suspense is built on park bench dialog and living room meetings. I love The Matrix and Matrix Reloaded, but the simplicity and power of Solaris is a nice change and shows how much range there is in the science fiction genre. It is part Blade Runner, part 2001, part Alien, and part Vertigo.
There are a couple of hard-to-take romantic introduction between slick George Clooney and his young wife. Their introduction is very Hollywood. Their romance is based on silent interludes on subways and conversations built completely on body language. Clooney's suave character shatters like a hammer after his first night on the space station above the giant gas planet of Solaris. All of the typical George Clooney self securities die. He is put in an impossible and horribly psychologically damaging position and he make bad choices. You can see his torment in every movement. One shot of him, simply sitting and staring at the impossible figure in front of him, shows more acting talent than in every Bruckheimer movie in the last 20 years.
The special effects in Solaris are subtle. The only big effect is the planet of Solaris itself, a gleaming ball of red and blue gasses. The society is understated. Two agents of an unknown corporation visit our hero, their faces never in focus. The smaller of the two wears a derby. There are no big shots of flying space cars. There is little time spent on his travel from Earth to Solaris. None of that is important. The movie removes entire pieces of the story that are simply not necessary. We find our minds trying to fill in some of the gaps, and the movie is more effective because of it.
The DVD of Solaris is very well done. There is a 2.35 to 1 16x9 enhanced picture and a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. It includes a director's commentary with director Steven Soderbergh and producer James Cameron.
Soderbergh's The Limey, Traffic, and Out of Sight were all simple movies that didn't try to grow outside of their expectations. None of them did very well, but a lot of folks know who he is and what he has done. Solaris is one of the best science fiction movies in the last five years. It does so by cutting out any gratuitous effects or sub-plots. It does so with clear deliberate dialog and excellent acting. It is a movie I'll be talking about for a long time.
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