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Solaris [VHS] [2003]
 
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Solaris [VHS] [2003]

VHS ~ George Clooney
3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (94 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Actors: George Clooney, Natascha McElhone, Jeremy Davies, Viola Davis, Ulrich Tukur
  • Directors: Steven Soderbergh
  • Format: PAL, Surround Sound, Dolby
  • Language English
  • Classification: 12
  • Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
  • VHS Release Date: 21 Jul 2003
  • Run Time: 94 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (94 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B00006FMGN
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 17,221 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
Solaris is a remake of Andrei Tarkovsky's Russian film (often called the "Soviet 2001"), itself an adaptation of the Polish Stanislaw Lem's novel, and is anything but a typical American science fiction film. Psychologist Chris Kelvin (George Clooney, playing it very cool and introverted) is sent to a space station orbiting the perhaps-living planet Solaris to investigate a loss of communication with Earth, and finds only two survivors: a free-associating neurotic (Jeremy Davies) and a control freak (Viola Davis), along with several corpses and evidence of recent violence. Kelvin is shocked to wake up next to his wife Rhea (Natascha McElhone), who committed suicide back on Earth years ago, and treats her like a body-snatched alien, disposing of the creature by jettisoning her into space. But she comes back again, and Kelvin realises she isn't a soulless monster out to get him but a genuinely self-aware construct built from his own memories. Though warned against getting involved, Kelvin tries to maintain a relationship with the non-human woman, hoping to avoid this time the mistakes he made that led to Rhea's death.

Steven Soderbergh, the most versatile and unpredictable director in Hollywood, stages a few big space moments, fascinated by the red and stringy ball of Solaris itself, but mostly sticks to interiors that have a Bergman-esque austerity, with Clooney and McElhone inhabiting their own room and going through deep emotional traumas while avoiding actual outbursts. It may be too interior a film for mainstream audiences, though at a clipped hour-and-a-half it isn't as hard going for non-devotees as the three-hour Tarkovsky version, but there is a lot of real meat here none the less. --Kim Newman

Synopsis
Psychologist, Chris Kelvin, mourning the loss of his beloved wife, is instructed to travel to a distant space station in order to treat a group of traumatised astronauts...

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Solaris [VHS] [2003]
75% buy the item featured on this page:
Solaris [VHS] [2003] 3.2 out of 5 stars (94)
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Customer Reviews

94 Reviews
5 star:
 (33)
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 (16)
3 star:
 (9)
2 star:
 (8)
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Average Customer Review
3.2 out of 5 stars (94 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful love story set in space, 24 Jan 2008
By Antonio Moncayo (Zaragoza) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)      
This review is from: Solaris [2003] [DVD] (DVD)
This is a great movie that did not do very well in the box office due to some marking issues.

The original Soviet movie has been acclaimed as one of the most brilliant sci-fi movies ever made ( the Soviet answer to 2001 ) however it goes on for nearly 3 hours.

The plot follows the arrival of a Psychiatrist ( Clooney ) to a space station to investigate the unexplained changed in behavior of he members of the station.

Steven Sodenbergh has shortened the feature to 90 minutes , Clooneys acting is very convincing, but the best thing is the movie is Natasha McElhone who delivers her best performance so far , as very intense and troubled woman. Jeremy Davies and Viola Davis complete the cast.

The atmosphere and sound effects of the movie are claustrophobic and dark but have a flavor that reminds of Bladde runner and 2001 ( the docking scene and the rain in the street .

The movie will appeal to sci-fi fans and those who are interested in open ended stories ( who might have to do some research on the internet to find out the meaning of he movie ).

Overall a very enjoyable 90 minutes but this is not a fast paced action movie but a love story set in space.

"And death shall have no dominion"
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14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Refreshing., 18 Mar 2006
By Lixma (Earth...usually) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Solaris [2003] [DVD] (DVD)
While Solaris is inevitably labelled Sci-Fi its core themes are distinctly human. Loss, regret and the realization that memory tends to simplify events, people and places. While the original film allows the viewer to muse on the overall, Soderbergh's take focuses on the main protagonist's (Clooney) experience with the strange 'planet'. With only a standard 90 minutes to play with the director has done a good job of explaining the power Solaris wields without having to constantly remind us with new and more bizarre consequences (and special effects).

The visuals sway from the ethereal (Solaris), austere (Earth) and utilitarian (Space Station). On the commentary track, Soderbergh tells us he wanted Solaris to have a 'synaptic' quality to it and the effect is beautiful. Cliff Martinez's score, too, will follow you around for months.

As for the cast, Clooney is excellent as ever. While his performance doesn't require histrionics he makes believable a shrink thrown into a situation where his vocational skills are rendered useless by minds becoming matter. Natascha McElhone is charged with an incredibly difficult role. Her character on Earth is confident, sexy, playful, remote and ultimately suicidal; on Solaris she has to play whatever Clooney's character has in mind...hard work, but admirably done. It's unfortunate that in one weak scene of un-necessary exposition the focus is on McElhone but it's a fault of the screen-writer, not her. Jeremy Davies' Snow is perhaps the character that deserved more attention than was given. Considering his unique 'situation' it would have been worth an extra half hour to explore it. Viola Davis is okay but ultimately pointless. The removal of her character wouldn't have affected the film in anyway and her presence really only fills an authority vacuum on the station.

It's good to see adult themes being explored in the Sci-Fi genre and being embraced by Hollywood heavyweights....and not a LaZer BeAm in sight. Obviously this film won't appeal to the 'action' based wing of Sci-Fi fans and the polarity of opinions shown here is evidence of this. But as a serious slice of "what if", Solaris rewards attention and multiple viewings.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars If you liked 2001 Space Odyssey you might like this ..., 31 Oct 2007
By Mary C "NurseMare" (NJ, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)      
This review is from: Solaris [2003] [DVD] (DVD)
This is the story of a space station where the crew has cut off communications with earth. A security force is sent to investigate but disappears - unfortunately we never find out where they disappeared to or even if they came to harm. George Clooney plays Chris Kelvin, a civilian psychologist on earth. He is approached and asked to go to the space station to investigate what is happening with the crew and, since one of the crew members is a close friend of his, they think he may be able to assist the crew from a psychological standpoint and save the mission. Okay, so you can see we're already on pretty shaky ground here. Civilian with no training and trips to outer space don't mix well.

Anyway, When he arrives on the ship there are just two crew members left. His friend has already committed suicide by the time he gets there and there is no mention of anyone else or anything else regarding what may have happened to other people. Anyway, the two remaining crew members don't appear in the movie much after the initial opening. The remainder of the movie is focused on his relationship with his dead wife who mysteriously appears on the ship in his locked room. That's just the opening, and it doesn't get much better.

There are lots of scenes where they just stare at each other without speaking. Everything is dark - you feel like saying "why doesn't anyone turn on the lights!" You wonder if anything is ever going to happen. It was one of the quietest, darkest movies I've ever watched - highly reminiscent of 2001 Space Odyssey. Some people may like this movie, but I'm willing to bet a higher percentage will be on the fence like I am, or just plain dislike it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars "We don't want other worlds, we want mirrors"
Solaris- Steven Soderbergh

Andrei Tarkovsky's acclaimed 1972 version of Stanis³aw Lem's science-fiction novel Solaris was a film I liked to pretend I enjoyed and... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Demob Happy

5.0 out of 5 stars Closest thing to 2001: A Space Odessy...
Solaris, an alien planet or perhaps and alien existance can show us things that we hide even from ourselves. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Michael Branton

4.0 out of 5 stars different
Against all expectations, I like this, a lot.
As a fan of the Russian version, and the original (Polish) book, I was dreading a remake, even from an American team that are... Read more
Published 6 months ago by N. Carley

5.0 out of 5 stars Hypnotising movie
George Clooney and the astonishingly beautiful Natascha McElhone shine in this Soderbergh low budget remake. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Brendan O. Clarke

1.0 out of 5 stars The Boson Delusion
The plot of "Solaris" promises to mine fascinating seams of meaning, then declares them unworthy of excavation. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Frugal Dougal

2.0 out of 5 stars 2001 it's not.
I've watched this film twice. I won't watch it a third time. The reason I watched it the second time? I actually fell asleep the first viewing. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Mr. S. Kerfoot

5.0 out of 5 stars Hypnotic charm
At last ! A sci-fi film that polarises opinion! A sci-fi film which is not in-your-face CGI and all-action/no-brain! Read more
Published 18 months ago by Black Box

5.0 out of 5 stars Beatiful and thought provoking
I just can't get enough of this film.
I am a fan of the Tarkovsky version, though I haven't read the book yet. Read more
Published 19 months ago by cookie888

3.0 out of 5 stars Snore-is
Well this film is kind of weird and I have to admit that I nodded off once or twice while I watched it, such was the slowness and laid-back mood of it all. Read more
Published 20 months ago by OEJ

5.0 out of 5 stars A film to make you think
It would be unfair of me to make any comparisons with Andrei Tarkovsky's film Solaris as it has been so long since I've seen it, but the 2002 film of Lem's novel is fantastic... Read more
Published 21 months ago by DangermouseZilla

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