Subject: Review: Contact (1997)

From: Dean Thomas Sebastian Carrano <[email-masked]>
Date: 8 Jul 1997 16:20:45 GMT

CONTACT
Starring Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaughey, James Woods, Tom Skerritt,
Angela Bassett
Viewed July 5, 1997 at advance screening in Forest Hills, NY

Capsule Review: Slow-moving tale lacks promised payoff.  But some good
moments along the way.  5 out of 10.

At my viewing of this film, I sat next to THE KIDS YOU DON'T WANT TO SIT
NEXT TO. They seemed to be expecting "Contact" to be along the lines of
"Independence Day".  "I better see some aliens!" they demanded of the
screen many times, and emphatically urged the story onward at every turn. 
I didn't share their impatience, but you gotta admit, this movie was LONG. 
It was about two and a half hours long, and seemed longer (unlike,
say, "The Godfather", which is a three hour movie that seems like two
hours max.)

For me, the pacing worked fine at first.  The movie begins with an epic
sequence.  The camera begins with a view of earth, and then pulls farther
and farther back, taking us past each planet in the solar system.  As we
leave earth behind, its sounds - radio and TV broadcasts which meander
randomly through space - fade out until we hear dead silence. "We get the
point already!" cried the kids, but the camera kept going and silence
otherwise reigned.  The spectacle, especially the dramatic use of total
silence, was reminiscent of 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, and the scene lived up
to that high standard. 

All these celestial wonders, we are meant to understand, have long been
contemplated by our heroine, Dr. Eleanor Arroway (Jodie Foster).  Since
the thrill of this movie is anticipation, I have to be pretty careful
here.  Suffice it to say that "Ellie" has devoted her life to listening
for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence via the use of massively
high-powered radio equipment that I couldn't even begin to explain.  This
is far from fictional, and indeed, a mark of the film throughout is that
it takes great pains to set itself in the real world and to avoid asking
the audience to suspend disbelief.  The Search for Extraterrestrial
Intelligence (SETI) government project is going on as we speak.  It's
based in New Mexico, and uses the famous Very Large Array to listen for
sounds of alien life. After some setbacks, Ellie is able to use the SETI
equipment for her research.  Needless to say, everyone thinks she's a
flake and the government, represented by the grandstanding science advisor
David Drumlin (Tom Skerritt), wants to cut her funding and use the money
for more "practical" applications.  Ellie's research is about to be
terminated when...she hears something.  A message that could only be
produced by an intelligent life form.  From then on, we watch the biggest
news story in history develop through the eyes of Ellie, its central
figure. 

This movie reminded me very strongly of two other films.  One was 2001,
mentioned above.  The other is THE ABYSS.  2001, THE ABYSS, and CONTACT
are all epics dealing with the first meeting of humanity and an alien
race.  2001 is the longest film of the three.  However, I would submit
that it has the most "payoff."  Even though we can argue for hours about
what "really happens" in that famous final scene, we accept it as a
fitting conclusion.  It fits in with the mythos that the story has
created. It is sufficiently dramatic.  We may not feel totally satisfied,
but we take this as a sign that some mystery is still retained, rather
than as a flaw in the storywriting. 

By contrast, THE ABYSS does not deliver that tremendous kick.  And CONTACT
is much, much worse in this regard.  If I were the aliens, I wouldn't even
bother to call us collect with the information they impart, much less go
through all the trouble they did.  It is a supreme disappointment.  At the
one moment where the movie needs inspired dialogue (or monologue), the
script fails.

One aspect of what Ellie learns from the aliens is brought out by her
relationship with Palmer Joss (Matthew McConaughey).  Ellie is an atheist; 
she sees no scientific evidence of God and thus cannot believe.  Palmer is
an ex-priest and best-selling spiritual author who believes that science
and technology are separating us from ourselves.  The relationship
reminded me of AGNES OF GOD, where Jane Fonda and Anne Bancroft might as
well have had "REASON" and "FAITH" stamped on their foreheads.  If you're
going to go this route, at least make it a little more subtle.  Palmer
doesn't have to be the spiritual leader of the country; he could just be a
guy that Ellie likes who has strong beliefs. 

As it was, these scenes were very unsubtle.  Moreover, they were wrongly
motivated. The movie assumes that science and religion are
irreconciliable.  This is just not true.  Many scientists believe that the
order they study - the beauty of the rules - could only have been created
by a supreme being.  This is a perfectly self-consistent viewpoint.  The
dichotomy - the assumption that one must choose between either science and
reason, or religion and faith - simply does not exist. However, since the
movie does set up this dichotomy, it is to its credit that Ellie does not
become a religious convert. 

One cannot help but be impressed by the plausibility of the "science" 
scenes.  I suppose this is what happens when you have Carl Sagan working
on your movie; the late, great astronomer not only wrote the novel on
which the movie is based, but co-wrote the screenplay and served as
co-producer.  The news coverage of the event, and the reactions of the
masses, are also very realistically portrayed.  As I said, the movie sets
out to make us believe that this could happen in our world tomorrow.
However, that impression is undermined by the final scenes.  At a
Congressional hearing, Ellie is grilled by another nasty government guy,
Michael Kitz (James Woods).  Ellie is supposed to be the smartest person
in the room, and there are any number of ways in which she could have
answered the questioning so as to make Kitz look absolutely ridiculous. 
Instead, she is made into another victim of the supposed reason/faith
dichotomy.  The last half hour of this movie needs serious editing.  So
does the first half hour, which does not contribute enough to the story to
pull its weight. 

To sum up: The special effects are spectacular.  (Although everyone in the
theater laughed at the computer-enhanced appearances of Bill Clinton as
himself. I know FORREST GUMP director Robert Zemeckis likes to do this,
but it was really gimmicky and detracted from the mood here.)  The story,
although it moves slowly, gets you excited when it does move.  You'll
believe in the story, and you'll be on the edge of your seat as the film
moves towards its climax.  And then you'll say, "Yeah...and?" 

5 stars out of 10

Movie review by Dean Carrano - [email-masked]
(This is my first review.  Please send comments!)