When I first heard about the Let’s See You Review This Write-off being hosted by lynus, I thought it sounded very interesting. Each participant picks someone else taking part in the write-off and picks a movie for that person to review. After I got signed up for the write-off, I started to wonder just what I would have to review, and I did worry a little that I would have to review a horrible movie or one I have already seen and hated. Thankfully, that didn’t happen. The member who picked me for this write-off, thepremier, chose Contact for me to review, a movie I have seen several times and like.

CAST

Jodie Foster - Ellie Arroway
Jena Malone - Young Ellie
Matthew McConaughey - Palmer Joss
David Morse - Ted Arroway
William Fichtner - Kent Clark
Tom Skerritt - David Drumlin
James Woods - Michael Kitz
Angela Bassett - Rachel Constantine
Rob Lowe - Richard Rank

Robert Zemeckis - Director

Contact was based on a book of the same name written by Carl Sagan. I haven’t read the book, so I have no idea how close the movie stays to the book. I actually didn’t know there was a book until after I first saw the movie. Contact was made in 1997. It is 153 minutes long and is rated PG. Younger children would probably be bored by the movie, and there are some scenes that could be upsetting to them, but older kids may enjoy it. Religion does play a part in the movie and some parents may not want their children exposed to the religious views that are depicted in the movie.

There is one other thing that I want to mention now. This is a bit of a spoiler, but I feel that it is important to point out, and I’m going to be as non specific as I can with this. In Contact, there are a group of people who end up destroying a structure with a bomb. Many people were also killed in the blast. Seeing something like that could be upsetting to some people, especially around this time of year. I really didn’t like seeing that part again either. People who don’t want to see anything like that shouldn’t watch Contact.

PLOT

Ted Arroway raised his daughter Ellie after his wife died. Ellie developed a love for science and outer space thanks to her dad. They also spent time using her Ham radio together. Ted had some health problems, and Ellie did her best to take care of him, taking him his medicine when he needed it. One day Ted died, and Ellie felt guilty that she hadn’t gotten him his medicine sooner. After the funeral, she was trying to talk to him in heaven with her Ham radio.

Several years passed and Ellie was grown up and a radio astronomer. She spent hours listening for something that could be a message from aliens. She spent some time working outside of the country. She met and became briefly involved with Palmer Joss during that time. He seemed to want to give their relationship a chance to grow and develop, but Ellie was keeping him at a distance. She didn’t want to become seriously involved with him. The funding for Ellie’s research was cut. Her boss, David Drumlin, basically told her that her research was worthless. Ellie left and that was the end of her relationship with Palmer. She found her own funding from a rich, eccentric man, and was able to continue her work in New Mexico.

Some more years passed and Ellie was still doing her research in New Mexico. One day she actually heard something. After Ellie and the other scientists there checked some readings and data on their computers, they determined that what she heard was coming from around the star of Vega. What Ellie heard was made up of more than one signal and on one of them was video from the 1936 Olympics with Adolf Hitler. Ellie thought that an alien race was trying to make contact.

News about the signal spread quickly and the government because involved. David showed up with someone from National Security. David was attempting to take all the credit for Ellie’s discovery. After some more work, it is figured out that whoever sent the signal was attempting to communicate through math. Plans for a one person space craft that would allow the person to travel deep into space were also included in the message. It was thought that the aliens wanted people on Earth to build the craft and then have someone travel in the craft. The government was very involved with what was going on by this time and it was decided that the craft would be built.

Ellie wanted to be the one to go in the craft. So did David. They were the two front runners to make the trip. They had to go through a selection process. Ellie and Palmer met up again when that was going on. He was a spiritual adviser for the President and he was also involved in the selection process. He was still interested in Ellie and had some conflicted feelings about her being the one to go. A religious fanatic group was protesting the craft being built and were very vocal about not wanting that or the trip to happen.

Who will be picked for the journey into space? Will the craft work? Will whoever goes survive the trip and get to met aliens? How will religion factor into the decision on who goes? Does the religious group do something to try to stop what is happening? What will happen between Ellie and Palmer? If you want to find out the answers, watch the movie.

**End of Plot Discussion**

Contact is a very good movie. The movie is long and complicated. Many different things happen throughout it, so even though I did discuss what seems like most of the plot, there are still many more things that happen. The movie is a little slow moving in the beginning, but Ellie’s character is being developed at that point. This is still an important part to the movie because the things that are learned about Ellie at this point will help to explain why she is the way she is later on. It does take a little while to get to the more interesting parts of the movie.

Contact is one of the better science-fiction movies I have ever seen. The movie also deals with some religious issues. Ellie is a radio astronomer who devoted her career to finding some kind of signal from another world. When she did, she was thrown into the middle of controversy. Some religious groups are firmly against building the craft and sending someone to space in it. Other people seem to strongly feel that the trip should be made. Religious debates broke out as people tried to decide how important religion should be in picking the person to make the trip. Ellie was the one who discovered the signal, but she was pushed to the sidelines and has to fight to try to stay involved. The movie is about making contact with an alien race, but the aliens are not the main focus of the movie. The things that happen as a result of the contact and how people react makes up the main focus of the movie.

Contact explores what could happen if an alien race did make contact with Earth. This is a movie that can make you think. I found it to be very interesting, and it raised some questions. Where are the aliens from? Are they friendly or hostile? How can we really be sure that they are friendly just based on a signal and plans for a space craft? Once contact has been made, who should be in charge or what is going on? The person who discovered the signal - like Ellie - or the government? What should be done after contact is made? If there were plans for a craft, should the craft be built? Who should build it? Who should pay for it? Who should travel in the craft? How should they be picked? What things should be taken into consideration? Should a person’s religious beliefs, or lack of them, automatically disqualify them? There are many different religions all around the world. Which one should be represented in a case like this, especially if the person making the trip is to be representing the whole world? After I saw Contact, it did raise a few of these questions for me. After recently watching it again, and thinking about the movie, I came up with more questions. I haven’t come up with any answers yet.

Religion plays an important role in Contact. Ellie is not a religious person. She has doubts because she has no concrete proof. She is a scientific person who likes to have answers and proof. She really had no religious beliefs. I think her childhood also contributed to how she viewed and felt about religion as an adult. Her father instilled a love of science in her. He told her to look for answers and proof, which she can’t find in religion. She lost both of her parents when she was a child. She never knew her mother, and her father died in front of her. That probably really affected her and her thoughts on religion. As an adult, she never tries to force her lack of religion on anybody else, but others do seem to try to push their beliefs on her.

When Ellie is being considered to go in the craft, her lack of religious beliefs is called into question. The people making the decision feel that it is important that whoever is chosen is a religious person. It hurts Ellie’s chances that she isn’t religious. It does seem like she is being discriminated against because of her lack of religion. She does have a few conversations regarding religion with Palmer. He doesn’t understand the way she feels about it, but he doesn’t try to force his views on her. Even though they have very different beliefs, they are able to discuss religion rationally. Palmer is a religious man, but he isn’t a fanatic. He also doesn’t look down on science. He believes that a person can be religious and scientific. He thinks there can be a balance between the two. There are some religious fanatics who are strongly against the craft being built or anyone making the trip. They may be willing to resort to violence to get their way. Since the main character in the movie doesn’t hide the fact that she isn’t religious that could offend some people who are religious. If you don’t like to see movies where people question religion and God, this isn’t the movie for you. Also, some people could be offended by the way the one religious group is portrayed as fanatics who could resort to violence. Parents who are raising their children to have beliefs in any religion may not want their children to see the ways religion is shown in this movie.

There is a little bit of violence in Contact. There aren’t any gun battles or anything like that, but a bomb is set off, destroying a structure and killing several innocent people. That could be upsetting to young children, and even some adults. The violence isn’t extreme, but some viewers could be offended. People who don’t like to see any kid of violence in movies should avoid Contact. There is a small amount of swearing in the movie, but it isn’t excessive. The word that rhymes with luck is never used in the movie.

There is a small amount of romance in Contact provided by the relationship between Ellie and Joss. Right after they meet, then end up sleeping together. Ellie is ready to rush off right after, and she is trying to keep him at a distance. There is no nudity in the movie, and the sex between the two characters is not shown, though they are shown after. There are a few kisses here and there in the movie, but that is really it for sexual content. Ellie doesn’t have a lot of close friends, and no family since her father died. She doesn’t let people get close to her. I think she is that way because she is afraid of losing someone else she loves and getting hurt again.

Contact is set in a few different locations around the world. I think Ellie was in Puerto Rico when she worked outside the country and met Palmer for the first time, but I forgot to make a note of exactly where that was, and I can’t remember for sure now. After Ellie gets her own funding, she works at a place where there are many giant satellite dishes. Some scenes in the movie related to the selection process take place in Washington D.C. There are a few scenes that are set at N.A.S.A. Some other important events take place in another location around the world. I think it was the South Seas. I think the different settings added a lot to the movie and helped to make it more believable. Something else that really made it seem more realistic to me when I first saw it is that there is some footage of President Clinton giving some speeches shown in the movie. The speeches are supposed to be him talking about the signal, craft, and selection process.

There are some special effects in Contact, especially near the end of the movie, but they don’t over power the movie or distract from the characters and plot. The movie isn’t over loaded with special effects. There are just a few here and there in the movie. The special effects that are in the movie were very well done. The signal that Ellie discovers is a sound. That sound is very important to the movie as it is the way the aliens are trying to contact Earth. The noise that Ellie hears is very strange sounding. The first time I heard it when the movie first came out, I thought it sounded a bit creepy too. I still do. I really don’t know how to describe the sound, but it was well done, and I thought it sounded like something that could be coming from space. I can remember what that noise sounds like in my head, but I really don’t know how to describe it.

I think that the acting in Contact is very good. This movie has a great cast. Jodie Foster was wonderful as Ellie. She did seem to be a little stiff and cold at times, but that is just how Ellie is because she tries to keep people at a distance. I think she is believable in the role. She made Ellie come to life. Matthew McConaughey was really good at Palmer. He also made his character come to life. Palmer could have come off as a dumb hick, but McConaughey portrayed him as a smart man. David Morse only has a few minutes of screen time but he was good in those few minutes.

Tom Skerritt was really good as David. He played that character in such a way that I couldn’t stand him. He was a jerk who told Ellie her work was useless, but when she made the discovery, he was right there ready to take credit. There were some other good actors in this movie, but they didn’t have as many scenes, so I’m not going to mention them now.

CHARACTERS

Ellie Arroway - She is a radio astronomer. She has been trying to discover a signal from another planet for many years. She lost both her parents when she was a child. She keeps people at a distance now and doesn’t want to get involved. She isn’t a religious person, but she doesn’t try to convince other people that her way of thinking is best. She is independent and use to taking care of herself. She is very focused on her work. She really wants to make the trip in the craft. She does become involved with Palmer, and she comes to care for him even though she tried to prevent it.

Palmer Joss - He is a religious man, but he doesn’t force his beliefs on others. He is interested in Ellie when he first meets her, but he realizes that she is hesitant to become involved, so he doesn’t push her. He lets her decide how fast their relationship develops. He is a kind, caring man. He is involved in the selection of who will go in the craft, and he has mixed feelings about Ellie going. He supports her and believes in her even when they don’t always agree on everything.

David Drumlin - He is Ellie’s boss until her funding is cut. He doesn’t think her work has any use, but he is quick to show up and claim credit after she discovers the signal. Once it is news, he makes sure he is very involved in what is going on with the signal and craft. He loves media attention, and will milk it for everything he can.

There are some other characters in the movie, but these three are the ones I think are the most important. The others are minor characters who aren’t as developed.

I really like Contact. It is one of the best science-fiction movies I have seen, and one of the best movies overall. This is a more serious movie and it will make you think. If you enjoy watching that type of movie, then you should check out Contact. If you are more in the mood for a light hearted, funny movie, then Contact is not that movie. I think that people who like science-fiction movies would like this one. Also people who are fans of any of the cast may also want to check this movie out.

There are several other people participating in this write off. Take a minute or two to check out the other wonderful entries.

lynus (host) * dedemw * jankp * shadow8 * food_critic * scigamer * mfunk75 * BigJack * KatM * jackai * susidee34 * d_Fienberg * gaelkm * thepremier* dragonfire88 * MrsNormanMaine * Kristinafh * patiche * Stephen_Murray * cripper * artbyjude * skbreese * shaithis * Vormancian * jstlawrence * psychovant * danifilth * Pffrdfdus7 * granniemose * annecal * JackSommersby * Aruzenchin * cletta1201 * simply_crispy * tigger500 * darkmistress * lifestar * mark_dujsik * tjmackey * aliventiasylum








Recommended:
Yes

Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older