"Contact" was based on a novel by astronomer Carl Sagan, who also assisted with the production prior to his death from cancer in late 1996. The film was directed by Robert Zemeckis, one of Hollywood's most successful ("Back to the Future", "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", "Forrest Gump"). A fine cast was assembled, but all was for naught. A humdrum script and a slow moving story takes all the thunder out of what could have been an interesting film.
The heroine of the story is Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster). A promising scientist, she has spent her career listening to receptions from enormous satellite dishes, hoping for signs of extraterrestrial life. This being a movie, she not only detects such a transmission, but its message, once decoded, provides a blueprint for sending one person on a journey to the remote planet. And guess who that one person turns out to be? Why, its the same heroine who also recognizes Jake Busey (sure looks like Dad) as a terrorist, and learns that the alien broadcast is a series of prime numbers. Encountering aliens may be a team effort, but it is Foster getting most of the close-ups.
Fortunately, she redeems herself admirably. The same can't be said of her character, which is obsessive and wooden. Foster gets more out of her character than it deserves, which is another way of saying that Foster deserved a better script. The script is only adequate, mostly wasting the talents of the supporting cast, which includes David Morse as Arroway's father, John Hurt as the reclusive zillionaire genius Hadden, Tom Skerritt as Arroway's glory hounding boss, James Woods as a sarcastic government advisor, Matthew McConnaughey as a religious leader and would-be love interest for Foster, and Bill Clinton as the President. Clinton isn't credited, but his lines are part of the script: he's definitely acting. Which, I suppose, is better practice for being President than golfing.
The scene with Foster traveling to the alien planet is similar to the corresponding scene in "2001: A Space Odyssey". But Kubrick was correct in having cinematography tell the story. In "Contact" Zemeckis has Foster narrating the scene (e.g. "Now I'm in a wormhole! Now I'm in another wormhole!") in an attempt to make it seem more plausible. But it comes off like someone babbling while riding a roller coaster.
The film is too lengthy at 142 minutes. It takes too long to get to the heart of the story, which begins only when the alien transmission is discovered. To help gain sympathy for Foster's character, we are shown all the traumatic moments of her life and career, beginning with her father's death in her arms, and continuing with mean treatment of her by Skerritt and Woods. Foster's performance is so good, however, that she manages to partly redeem the manipulative story. (48/100)
DVDS. The search for life outside our solar system becomes a personal and spiritual quest for a young researcher. Ellie Arroway ({$Jodie Foster}) is a...More at DeepDiscount.com
Devoted astronomer Dr. Ellie Arroway undertakes an emotional and spiritual journey after receiving the message she's waited for all her life--a myster...More at Family Video
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