|
 Movie
B+ |
Video A | Audio A-
| Extras B
George Clooney, Natascha McElhone, Viola Davis,
Jeremy Davies
director Steve Soderbergh | 20th Century Fox
2002 | Romance - Drama - Thriller - Science Fiction
PG-13 | 99 minutes |
Region 1 | DVD-9
anamorphic
widescreen 2.35:1 aspect ratio
|
Dolby Digital 5.1
Summary: George Clooney is Dr. Chris Kelvin,
a psychiatrist who is summoned to a space station orbiting the strange
galactic body known as Solaris by a crew member who believes that he
should come and investigate a "situation". Upon his
arrival, Dr. Kelvin is greeted by the two remaining crew members.
While he tries to start the inquiry immediately, they can't or won't come right out to discuss the situation. Dr.
Kelvin discovers the phenomena first hand as he falls asleep and
unexpectedly encounters his wife, Rheya, played by the beautiful Natascha
McElhone. Despite strong caution by a crew member, Dr. Kelvin
disregards all reason and gets emotionally involved with this being who
resembles his late wife. Given the circumstances, he sees it as his
opportunity to make things right with his relationship with his wife.
Solaris is not so
much a science fiction movie. While it is set on a space station in
the not-too-distant future, it is more of a love story that unfolds in a
futuristic backdrop. There are issues that the filmmakers (Steve
Soderbergh and James Cameron) leave to the audience to decide for
themselves. This reviewer will do likewise. The story is told
with a series of flashbacks, from the memory of Dr. Kelvin. The
dramatic performances by George Clooney and Natascha McElhone are first
rate. If you're looking for a love story that simultaneously raises
some interesting philosophical questions, look no further than Solaris.
Special Features: audio commentary by
director Steven Soderbergh and producer James Cameron, "HBO Special:
Inside Solaris" featurette; "Solaris: Behind the
Planet" featurette (behind the scenes look); screenplay (still photo
gallery: this feature did not work on our review test sample DVD);
theatrical teaser and theatrical trailer; theatrical trailers for Master
and Commander and Le Divorce
DVD released on 7/29/2003 | Reviewed 7/17/2003
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Additional Notes: Unless we specify otherwise, the
video and audio quality are very good when their grades are "A-"
or better. Only the highest number of channels of surround sound
format is listed (e.g., Dolby Digital 5.1). If there are both Dolby
Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 soundtracks, then both are listed. All
DVD-Video discs are backwards compatible with stereo-only playback
systems.
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Staff@TimeForDVD.com.
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Associated equipment used in evaluation: Sony
DVP-S7700 reference DVD player, Sony
KP-61V45 61" rear projection TV (4:3 screen aspect ratio), Sony ES STR-V444ES A/V receiver, four
B&W CDM 9NTs as left/right main speakers
and left/right surrounds, B&W CDM CNT center channel speaker, Monster Cable M-series S-Video cable MSV-500, Monster
Cable Interlink LightSpeed 100 (Toslink) optical cable, Monster Cable
Interlink 400 MKII interconnects, Monster Cable
Original speaker cables in bi-wire configuration with Monster Cable twist-on gold-plated banana plug
connectors, Lovan Sovereign T HiFi audio
rack, and Sony MDR-V600 studio monitor headphones. Our home theater equipment was calibrated
with the Video
Essentials DVD.
Be sure to check out our Top 10 DVDs of the year
2001 and our list of this year's Oscar winners on DVD.
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