Movies
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Wide Releases
Now In Theaters
76
(500) Days of Summer
60
9
17
All About Steve
37
Amelia
53
Astro Boy
66
Bandslam
45
Box, The
61
Capitalism: A Love Story
55
Christmas Carol, A
43
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
66
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
29
Collector, The
23
Couples Retreat
80
District 9
61
Extract
39
Fame
xx
Fantastic Mr. Fox
30
Final Destination, The
34
Fourth Kind, The
60
Funny People
32
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
27
Gamer
41
G-Force
39
Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, The
46
Halloween II
73
Hangover, The
78
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
55
I Can Do Bad All By Myself
66
Informant!, The
69
Inglourious Basterds
58
Invention of Lying, The
47
Jennifer's Body
66
Julie & Julia
34
Law Abiding Citizen
33
Love Happens
54
Men Who Stare At Goats, The
67
Michael Jackson's This Is It
51
My Sister's Keeper
42
Orphan
28
Pandorum
63
Perfect Getaway, A
86
Ponyo![]()
35
Post Grad
48
Proposal, The
30
Saw VI
53
Shorts
24
Sorority Row
83
Star Trek![]()
33
Stepfather, The
45
Surrogates
55
Taking Woodstock
47
Time Traveler's Wife
96
Toy Story/Toy Story 2 3D![]()
35
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
28
Ugly Truth, The
88
Up![]()
71
Where the Wild Things Are
67
Whip It
28
Whiteout
73
Zombieland
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Limited Releases
Now In Theaters
58
(Untitled)
96
35 Shots of Rum![]()
56
Adam
72
Adela
39
Adventures of Power
78
Afghan Star
61
After the Storm
66
Afterschool
xx
All the Best
58
American Casino
72
Amreeka
48
Antichrist
73
Araya
62
Art & Copy
55
As Seen Through These Eyes
76
Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86
Beaches of Agnes, The![]()
13
Beautiful Life, A
70
Beeswax
35
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
71
Big Fan
66
Black Dynamite
51
Blind Date
xx
Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly
76
Bliss
35
Blue Tooth Virgin, The
26
Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
57
Boys Are Back, The
45
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81
Bright Star![]()
70
Bronson
45
Burning Plain, The
xx
Carriers
55
Casi Divas
57
Chelsea on the Rocks
62
Cloud 9
65
Coco Before Chanel
69
Cold Souls
59
Collapse
44
Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
82
Cove, The![]()
75
Crude
82
Damned United, The![]()
67
Departures
xx
Dil Bole Hadippa
71
Disgrace
xx
Do Knot Disturb
70
Earth Days
24
Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat
85
Education, An![]()
55
Endgame
xx
Eulogy for a Vampire
xx
Everyone Else
xx
Fatal Promises
56
Fifty Dead Men Walking
62
Five Minutes of Heaven
74
Flame & Citron
49
Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80
Food, Inc.
28
Free Style
xx
From Mexico with Love
50
Fuel
25
Gentlemen Broncos
50
Give Me Your Hand
58
Gogol Bordello Non-Stop
72
Good Hair
89
Goodbye Solo![]()
52
Grace
66
Harmony and Me
81
Headless Woman, The![]()
xx
Heretics, The
63
Horse Boy, The
73
House of the Devil, The
xx
How to Seduce Difficult Women
74
Humpday
94
Hurt Locker, The![]()
29
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
16
If One Thing Matters: A Film About Wolfgang Tillmans
75
In Search of Beethoven
83
In the Loop![]()
61
Intimate Enemies
42
Irene in Time
70
It Might Get Loud
46
Killing Kasztner
19
Labor Day
xx
Laila's Birthday
41
Little Ashes
41
Little Traitor, The
66
Liverpool
34
Looking for Palladin
80
Lorna's Silence
83
Maid, The![]()
xx
Ministers, The
59
More Than a Game
67
Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
34
Motherhood
62
My One and Only
xx
Mystery Team
48
New York, I Love You
73
Night and Day
66
No Impact Man
47
Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
34
Other Man, The
xx
Painter Sam Francis, The
54
Paper Heart
xx
Paradise
68
Paranormal Activity
68
Paris
44
Peter and Vandy
35
Play the Game
77
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
xx
Pretty Ugly People
65
Providence Effect, The
76
Rembrandt's J'accuse
69
September Issue, The
79
Serious Man, A
40
Shrink
61
Skin
77
Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake, A
xx
Skiptracers
46
Splinterheads
39
St. Trinian's
89
Still Walking![]()
50
Stoning of Soraya M., The
55
Storm
65
Tetro
70
That Evening Sun
72
Thirst
xx
Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D (re-release)
61
Trucker
xx
Turning Green
83
U2 3D![]()
66
Unmade Beds
66
Unmistaken Child
70
Visual Acoustics
55
Walt & El Grupo
67
Way We Get By, The
69
We Live in Public
64
Wedding Song, The
64
Where is Where?
xx
White on Rice
74
Woman in Berlin, A
69
World's Greatest Dad
70
Yes Men Fix the World
69
Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
xx
You, the Living
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Solaris
EMAILPRINT20th Century Fox Film Corporation / USA Films

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 38 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 139 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Suspense/Thriller
Written by:
Steven Soderbergh
Stanislaw Lem (novel)
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh
Release Date:
Theatrical: November 27, 2002
DVD: July 29, 2003
Running Time: 95 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for sexuality/nudity, brief language and thematic elements
Starring George Clooney, Natascha McElhone, Jeremy Davies, Viola Davis, Ulrich Tukur, Morgan Rusler, and Ann Morgan
A story of love, redemption, second chances and a space mission gone terribly wrong. (20th Century Fox)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Andrei Tarkovsky's Solaris (1972) Bubble Erin Brockovich Eros Full Frontal Ocean's Eleven Ocean's Twelve Out of Sight Schizopolis sex, lies, and videotape The Girlfriend Experience The Good German The Limey Traffic
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Village Voice J. Hoberman
Solaris achieves an almost perfect balance of poetry and pulp. This is as elegant, moody, intelligent, sensuous, and sustained a studio movie as we are likely to see this season -- and in its intrinsic nuttiness, perhaps the least compromised.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Clooney brings raw intensity to his role; his scenes with McElhone are rooted in a fierce romantic yearning.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir
Soderbergh's film is probably not the equal of either Tarkovsky's 1972 predecessor or the memorably Byzantine prose of Lem's novel, but in the end, almost despite himself, this able craftsman has made a brave and lovely companion piece to both of them. His ending is pure cinema at its most marvelous and moving.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
Though glazed in chilly surfaces -- the Kubrickian spaces, Cliff Martinez's gorgeous ambient score, the elliptical editing rhythms of Soderbergh's recent work, particularly "The Limey" -- the film contains a surprising depth of feeling within its egg-shaped head.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Michael Dequina
It's an entirely different animal from Tarkovsky's hypnotic but opaque take, and it's an entirely different animal from most studio product in general -- Soderbergh's Solaris is a gorgeous and deceptively minimalist cinematic tone poem.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
As things turn out, Clooney’s butt is just one of the many delights to be found on a trip to Solaris.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The Soderbergh version is like the same story freed from the weight of Tarkovsky's solemnity. And it evokes one of the rarest of movie emotions, ironic regret.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
Philip Messina's claustrophobic sets and Cliff Martinez's elegantly creepy score add to the film's distinction and work off Clooney's performance and Soderbergh's staging to create an hypnotic spell and suggest a cosmos full of spiritual possibility.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
Unexpectedly thoughtful, as well as touching.
Slate David Edelstein
Essentially a solemn, splintered meditation on lost love: a movie about personal space, in space.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Rick Kisonak
I find Soderbergh's Solaris an eminently more satisfying experience than Lem's. This is a film as elegantly directed as any by Kubrick, one which is superbly acted and brilliantly scored, as spellbinding a work of cinema as we're likely to see for some time.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jami Bernard
A darkly brilliant sci-fi movie about emotions so deep, the story could be taking place within the chambers of the heart instead of an arid space station. At the same time, it is a coldly theoretical piece that could leave viewers unengaged.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
That level of acting-without-words demands the likes of a Bruno Ganz or a Klaus Maria Brandauer, not a Clooney. Even when flashing his bare derrière in a sex scene, he isn't revealing nearly enough -- his work is just skin deep.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
For those who have seen Tarkovsky's moody original, let me say that Soderbergh skims the fat from the 1972 film. What's left is a rich stew of longing.
Read Full Review >New York Post Jonathan Foreman
So beautifully made (everything in it is understated except the gorgeous good looks of its stars) and turns out to have such real cumulative power that it is worth holding out to the end.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
Soderbergh, who hasn't ever attempted a film of this sort before, brings his gifts brilliantly to bear, with gorgeous shots of outer space, delicate, swift edits and a captivating score by his longtime collaborator Cliff Martinez -- But when the script becomes more about telling -- or, rather, arguing -- than showing, the film loosens its grip.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
Neither as effective nor as ambitious as Kubrick's masterpiece, but it's still a compelling cinematic experience for those who are willing to abandon themselves to the unforced, measured rhythms of an issues-based motion picture.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
Soderbergh does a fine job creating a moody atmosphere of pervasive anxiety. The ending can be interpreted a few different ways and should ignite debate about its meaning.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
To appreciate Solaris, the new film by Steven Soderbergh, it helps to downshift your moviegoing metabolism to a level approaching the cryogenically frozen: The movie's that cerebral, that contemplative, that slow.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
The film's real appeal won't be to Clooney fans or adventure buffs, but to moviegoers who enjoy thinking about compelling questions with no easy answers.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
Solaris, an exploration of outer space and inner anguish, reminds us that science fiction can embrace adult ideas and human drama as well as technology and futuristic action.
Read Full Review >Time Richard Corliss
Can't touch the 1972 film's austere poignancy, and McElhone lacks the bewitching beauty of Natalya Bondarchuk in the original Solaris. But the project's gravity and ambition can't be denied.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
Ends up more challenging and intriguing than personally involving, and while these are far from small things, it is only human to hope for more.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly John Powers
While I could tell the love story was supposed to be moving, I kept feeling the characters' passion struggling against the virtuosity of Soderbergh's direction, which is so tight, so gorgeously lit, so worked that even when he wants scenes to be emotionally incandescent, they wind up detached, even chilly.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Steven Soderbergh's Solaris is an uptight movie -- the opposite of his scintillating "Out of Sight."
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
Missing is most of Tarkovsky's contemplative and mystical poetry (which is why it's 90 minutes shorter), and added are some unfortunate Hollywood-style designer flashbacks -- The story is still strong and haunting, but I'd recommend seeing this, if at all, only after the Tarkovsky.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson
For all its flaws, though, Solaris is a good try, and a definite improvement over the dull remakes Soderbergh has been sleepwalking through lately.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
If Soderbergh set out to make a galvanizing conversation piece, he has certainly succeeded. But this cold, occasionally dull movie practically defies you to embrace it.
Read Full Review >Variety Todd McCarthy
Despite its undeniably pure and earnest intent, Solaris is equally undeniably an arid, dull affair that imposes and maintains a huge distance between the viewer and what happens onscreen.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
Soderbergh, in essence, has come up with a plodding and far less psychologically arresting version of ''Ghost.''
Read Full Review >TV Guide Ken Fox
The real irony is that for all its integrity, the film isn't nearly as thought-provoking as Steven Spielberg's recent "A.I. Artificial Intelligence" or "Minority Report", and nowhere as entertaining.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
Even by the art film standards it apes, Solaris lacks conviction. And although it's meant to be restrained and free of emotional hysteria, the result is a movie that pretty much lies dead on the screen for an hour and a half.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Stephen Holden
Retooled into a sleek pop fable that doesn't bother to connect all its dots, the movie aspires to fuse the mystical intellectual gamesmanship of "2001: A Space Odyssey" with the love-beyond-the-grave romantic schmaltz of "Titanic," without losing its cool. It's a tricky balancing act that doesn't quite come off.
Read Full Review >The New Yorker David Denby
I know there are intelligent people who are awed by this sort of deep-dish magical mystery tour, but surely something is wrong with a movie when you can't tell a live character from a dead one and you don't care which is which. [9 December 2002, p. 142]
The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann
Soderbergh, the writer and director, has slowed his metronome almost to a crawl, has repeated and delayed and protracted, in an attempt at depth. The net effect is a small paradox: incomprehensibility caused by drag, not by rush.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Stephen Hunter
It could hardly be called rip-roaring. I should report that it drives about a quarter of the audience out of the theater before it is half over. That's because it's slower than molasses in Siberia.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
Solaris is a film where people...often...speak... like... this, and the camera moves slowly across sterile interiors.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 5.4 (out of 10) based on 139 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Jared C. gave it a4:
Headline: "Solaris" ...a unique sci-fi conception. Virtually fantastic with provocative dialogue. Different from the ordinary. And extraordinary from the ordinary. Clooney shines, but only a dull light. Cool idea. Poor execution. With strong inside-emotions and calm elements, Solaris will keep your angerment to a minimun level. And is a good movie to fall asleep and to calm down in. But really, for full thought sake, this picture's dull and dreary. Not dissapointing, it's just so boring.
Erik W. gave it a5:
This is the kind of movie that people with pretentions but without brains will love. Merely asking deep questions doesn't make a movie smart. For that you need some answers, or at least some thought provoking angle. This movie has neither. The constant flashbacks and "what if" questions are extremely predictable and rarely lead anywhere. That said, it isn't the worst movie ever. The restrained acting is enjoyable and the camerawork and scenery sets a nice mood. In short, this isn't an intellectual masterpiece, but it's no disaster either. If you think everyone who doesn't like it just can't understand it, you're a cunt and pretty daft too.
Devesh B. gave it a9:
Really gud film.. those who don't understand it or finds it boring, well shame on u guys.
mike gave it a7:
Didnt meet my expectations at all. I didnt find it boring like most people. Overall a slow paced movie with alot of dialog with a really bad ending.
Alden W. gave it a0:
My standards are usually fairly low when it comes to movies and It's rare for me to turn a movie off once I've committed myself. That being said, I couldn't get past the first half hour of Solaris. It was so incredibly slow and never grabbed me. I think it tried to be Kubrickesque but failed. But hey, that's just my opinion.
Dave C. gave it a 7:
Shorter and ironically less focused than Tarkovsky's version. Soderbergh's Solaris fails to establish itself like that film did. Both Tarkovsky and Soderbergh's films deviated from Stanislaw Lem's original novel, but Tarkovsky's unltimately achieved its aims by delineating its its own logic. This film on the other hand feels rushed and it's also no help that visually, it looks as if it's trying to pay homage to both 2001: A Space Odyssey and Tarkovsky's version of Solaris and so it comes to no surprise that the film's strongest moments come when Soderbergh adds his own own touch to it. In such a quietly surreal sci-fi film, his signature blue and sepia filtered, shaky camera shots feel eerily at home. The film's use of flashback is also exceedingly effective at displaying what most people percieve as reality as nothing but a memory and a dream and what anyone who consider to be absurd beyond all reasoning (Kris's enduring love for his wife) closer to reality than anything else.
[Anonymous] gave it a 10:
This is the best movie I have ever seen. It is a deep reflection of all of us. Study it well and watch it twice to really get the real feeling of all it has to offer. When someone sees it as boring it is only due to a misunderstanding of the depth of emotions it stirs. This movie is going to be a great scifi classic.
