Solaris
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation | Release Date: November 27, 2002 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
67
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 38 Critic Reviews
Positive:
26
Mixed:
10
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Village VoiceJ. 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
100
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Clooney brings raw intensity to his role; his scenes with McElhone are rooted in a fierce romantic yearning. Read full review
90
SalonAndrew 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
90
The A.V. ClubScott 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
90
Dallas ObserverLuke 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
90
Film ThreatMichael 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
89
Austin ChronicleMarjorie 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
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger 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
83
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam 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
80
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Unexpectedly thoughtful, as well as touching.
80
Film ThreatRick 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
80
SlateDavid Edelstein
Essentially a solemn, splintered meditation on lost love: a movie about personal space, in space. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia 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
75
Boston GlobeTy 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
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid 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
75
ReelViewsJames 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
75
New York Daily NewsJami 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
75
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
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie 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
75
New York PostJonathan 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
75
Portland OregonianShawn 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
75
Chicago TribuneMichael 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
70
TimeRichard 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
70
L.A. WeeklyJohn 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
70
Los Angeles TimesKenneth 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
63
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Steven Soderbergh's Solaris is an uptight movie -- the opposite of his scintillating "Out of Sight." Read full review
60
Chicago ReaderJonathan 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
50
Washington PostDesson 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
50
The New York TimesStephen 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
50
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Soderbergh, in essence, has come up with a plodding and far less psychologically arresting version of ''Ghost.'' Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineKen 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
50
VarietyTodd 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
50
Miami HeraldRene 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
40
The New YorkerDavid 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]
40
Washington PostStephen 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
40
The New RepublicStanley 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
38
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Solaris is a film where people...often...speak... like... this, and the camera moves slowly across sterile interiors. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
A ponderous and dreadful film. Read full review
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