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There are many messages one could take from this, the most obvious being that no matter how many scientific theories, there are some things out there, which simply cannot be explained; they just are. For me, the saying, "be careful what you wish for," comes to mind. When you lose something, you try and replace it with something else. But when you lose someone, then comes the realisation that no one is replaceable... until Solaris comes along. Kelvin seems content to fill the void with "Visitor Rheya", though no matter how strong the resemblance, she is just not the same. Given that it's a situation no one else has been in, for Kelvin it's painful to see him lose someone, but it can be just as painful for that person to come back. With this bizarrely unique thought, Solaris is certainly recommended, but probably more so for those who enjoy W.W. Jacob's The Monkey's Paw (or its variants), or Clamp's Chobits (the relationship between Minoru and Yuzuki parallels Kelvin's and Rheya's). Vice-versa if you're already a fan of this film.

With theoretical explanations as to what is causing the appearance of the visitors but little information as to why, it's essentially left to the viewer to interpret, which may annoy a large majority. This is because the casual film viewer (who most probably isn't reading this) often feels better after having some answers and doesn't want to feel like they've just wasted time on something that they can't make any sense of, like The Matrix sequels, or the location of the G-spot. Ironically, trying to make sense of things is exactly what Kelvin is doing, treating Solaris as if it has a soul, a mind, questioning, "What does it want?" His friend Gibarian says it best. "There are no answers, only choices," which goes some way to explaining the final act.

Solaris opened on Thanksgiving weekend in 2002, with an opening take of $6.7 million. The film made a new entry at number seven, contending with Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets (number one in its third week) and Die Another Day (number two in its second week). If 20th Century Fox had taken my advice, then it probably wouldn't have fallen out of the top ten the following week. It took in just $14.9 million during its run. Fox at least gave the film a reasonable DVD release, promoting that producer James Cameron gives "his first commentary for DVD!"

Solaris feels slow, despite being shorter than the original film (94 minutes compared to the original's 165 minutes); however, it's one of those films where although initially it looks like nothing is happening, everything is happening. Soderbergh himself said that anyone that doesn't enjoy the first ten minutes of the film should just give up. Either that's a sign that this isn't for you, or an invitation to absorb a fascinating thought provoker.

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