Techtite's DVD Reviews!

"If Chris thinks this [clone of his deceased wife] is a 'second chance,' his thoughts are flawed. When it's implied that this is exactly what Chris has been given, the film becomes flawed, too.."

--from the review

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Also Available: Solaris (1979), The Criterion Collection DVD

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...and, of course, there's Clooney's butt. Ah yes; Clooney's naked buttocks gets finally revealed, to anyone who give a frog's fat...well, posterior. Most girls will love this movie, for this reason and this reason alone. No joke; I can only presume that every single female movie critic will love this film. US magazine will likely use the word "Yowza." Entertainment Weekly's Lisa Schwarzbaum will give it an "A." No, maybe that's giving too little credit. Maybe they'll go to see Clooney's glutes, yet have the integrity to rate the film based on its merits. Maybe.

But...it was artistically bad, man! Oh, SHUT UP. Once again, we're treated to fans of a film who claim it is crappy because that's part of it's "artistic message" and if you didn't like it you must not know what true art is blah blah blah. While I am tolerant of such crackpots most of the time: If you're going to imply that the only people who didn't like this film found it "slow and boring" and those who liked it are the only people who think in a film; them's fightin' words, me buckos! No, I didn't merely dislike this film because it didn't have enough "big 'splosions." If it offers a "slow" story, fine: I just didn't think it was a good story. Got that...? Good.

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Solaris

Click picture to order this DVD

A Techtite Review

As Always, a review of The Film and The DVD (extras)!

The Film: The trouble with making a film based on a great film from the past is; hasn't the concept been done, re-done, and over-done ever since? Solaris is supposedly not a sci-fi tale told over and over for the past 30 years, which it is. No, this is allegedly a direct descendent of the 1972 film by Andrei Tarkovsky, with both being an adaptation of a novel by Stanislaw Lem. However, I don't care if it was adapted from The Book of Genesis; the point is, was this a good film?

Let's just jump to the story; Chris Kelvin (George Clooney) hears of odd goings-on at a space station above the planet Solaris. He goes to investigate, and finds merely two survivors: Snow (Jeremy Davies) and Helen (Viola Davis). They tell Chris, above all else, to not fall asleep, which of course he does immediately. He dreams of his wife who killed herself, Rheya (Natascha McElhone), and he awakes to see her next to him in bed, for real! Don't worry; this is no "it was all a dream" rubbish. While Rheya cannot logically be his wife, she is an exact, physical clone, just as he remembers her!

Trouble is: Faux Rheya --as I see her to be-- is based on little more than a memory. The alien powers at Solaris did not go back in time to resurrect Rheya; they just made a clone, based on Chris' own memories of her. Could this lead to a "real" clone? Some movie-goers think so, since at one point she questions her own identity. In typical "I think, therefore I am" fashion, the opinion is that Faux Rheya is self-aware, so if she is in fact little more than a memory-conceived puppet, at least she's a smart puppet.

I disagree. First of all, his memories of her could never be her own, complete memories, so Faux Rheya is based on a mere fraction of her real life, and ergo, a mere fraction of the real Rheya. What's worse: since Faux Rhea is the result of memories of the past, all Chris could experience with her is the past. She is not a new chance, though an old chance; a rerun. She isn't even the real Rheya. If Chris thinks this is a "second chance," his thoughts are flawed. When it's implied that this is exactly what Chris has been given, the film becomes flawed, too.

While I agree with fans of this film, that sci-fi can be good without flashy FX tricks (a slew of 1970's Dr. Who episodes come to mind), the truth is, Solaris is not good sci-fi. In fact, if anything, its the science fiction elements that really ticked me off. This is supposed to be about relationships yet it treats such relationships in a way that is a liberalized version of The Stepford Wives at best, or a pacifistic clone of Invasion of the Body Snatchers at worst. Making matters worse is how just about every sci-fi yarn ever told in the past 40 years, feels it must have a Twilight Zone plot twist at the end, even if it has to be brought in kicking and screaming. Not to spoil anything, but there is such a plot twist at the end of this movie, and quite frankly, it is akin to going warp factor 9 into solid rock. So much for intelligent sci-fi.

Most people will inevitably leave this movie with questions, with only a few leaving with any answers. I guess the people who leave it without answers are the lucky ones. Here's my take: If I was, say, Jack Dawson on the Titanic, I would want someone I loved to live their life, not a mere memory. At the very least, I wouldn't want Rose to go to some fool planet and have her clone me based on the mere thimble of my life she experienced with me. Such a clone would be based on only 1% of the "me" she ever knew. More to the point: That clone would not be me. Period. End of story.

Sure, it's a well directed film by Steven Soderbergh (Traffic). However, does that mean this is a good film by default? No. I'm reminded of Roger Ebert's comments, when defending his thumbs-down to Independence Day. He said he really didn't hate the movie; he just didn't think it was any good. I feel the same way about this film; love it if you must, though for me, I'll try to fall asleep and think of a better movie. If I'm lucky, when I wake, such a movie will be there...or maybe, I'll just keep on dreaming.

---Techtite

The DVD: Commentary is amusing in that it is by both Steven Soderbergh and James Cameron. Why Cameron provides such commentary honors to this film and not, say, Titanic, is beyond me. In the case of a controversial film like this, however, I cannot recommend such commentary to anyone who does not agree with the subject matter of the film. Every time they claim that Chris is given a "second chance" via the faux, alien, shadow-of-her-former-self Rheya, you wish you could drag these voices onto your cellular phone right then, so you could debate the issue further. How can she be a "second chance," guys, if she isn't even the real Rheya? Man, I did not like this film.

So, that off my chest, it's inappropriate for me to waste time telling you more about extras I could care less about. Here's a quick run-down: a "making of" special, an additional HBO making-of special, stills of the screenplay (?), and the obligatory film trailer. Enjoy...if interested.

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