Grade: C+

Verdict: The metaphysical mystery raises some intriguing questions, but it offers no profound answers.

Details: Directed by Stephen Soderbergh. Starring George Clooney, Natascha McElhone. Rated PG-13 for sexuality/nudity, brief language and thematic elements. 99 minutes.

See it: On DVD July 29

Rate it: Write your own review

Review: There's not a single blasted laser battle to be found in Solaris.

Despite being produced by James Cameron, who directed the sci-fi classic Aliens, the interstellar drama doesn't feature any slimy creatures or thrilling action, either.

Apart from George Clooney in a space suit, Solaris is science-fiction in name only.

Directed by Stephen Soderbergh, who adapted the story from Stanislaw Lem's 1961 novel, the film is a brooding meditation on life, death and love.

Like Stanley Kubrick's classic 2001: A Space Odyssey, the hypnotic mind-bender questions the existence and nature of a higher intelligence, inviting discussion and debate. However, the bigger issue for many viewers may be what in fact is going on here.

Clooney stars as Chris Kelvin, a psychologist who is sent to a space station orbiting the planet Solaris to determine why its crew has ceased communications with Earth and to negotiate their safe return. Once aboard the Prometheus, Kelvin discovers that most of the crew members have died or disappeared. The two surviving scientists have retreated to their rooms and only speak in cryptic terms about what has occurred.

“Until it starts happening to you, there's no point in discussing it,” says Dr. Gordon (Viola Davis).

Soon thereafter, Kelvin awakens from a dream in which he recalls first meeting his wife, Rheya (Natascha McElhone), to find her naked in bed next to him.

Adding to his surprise is the fact that Rheya had committed suicide back on Earth.

Solaris traces the disintegration of the couple's marriage through flashbacks, while simultaneously allowing them to play out their relationship after Rheya's death. Complicating Kelvin's second chance at love is the question of whether Rheya has transcended death or if instead she is a facsimile plucked from his memories.

The metaphysical mystery raises some intriguing questions, but it offers no profound answers. Still, the film stays with you after you leave the theater.

Solaris features a strong, compelling performance by Clooney in an uncharacteristic role. It also boasts a highly stylized look, with Soderbergh photographing the film himself under the pseudonym Peter Andrews, as well as an otherworldly score by Cliff Martinez.

But the film is remote, slow-moving and too cerebral for its own good. It fails to connect on an emotional level, not allowing us to feel the passion between Kelvin and his “visitor.”

Soderbergh, who won an Oscar for Traffic and hit the commercial jackpot with Ocean's Eleven, continues in the experimental mode of this year's poorly received Full Frontal.

Soderbergh intercuts among disparate time frames, as he did with his 1999 crime thriller The Limey, and uses different color tints to distinguish between locales, as in Traffic. But here the result is more perplexing than provocative. While some critics will hail the film's intellectual ambition, mainstream audiences are likely to find it dull, arty and pretentious.

On the plus side, Solaris is one hour shorter than the 1972 Russian film based on Lem's novel, directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. Soderbergh's version only feels three hours long.

— Dave Larsen, Cox News Service