Are You With Us? Contact
By Ryan Mazie
July 8, 2013
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Little did I know I was about to sit in on a two and a half hour debate on science and religion.
A bit disappointed that this wasn’t the movie I was supposed to be eating popcorn to, I did highly enjoy this Jodie Foster-starrer that might be one of the most visual effects-reliant dramas ever made.
Opening with a three-minute extended shot of a tour throughout our galaxy and beyond (the longest shot of its type for the time), Contact is a movie that plays with the concepts of proof and faith and the (in-/co-)compatibility of the two terms. Dr. Eleanor “Ellie” Arroway (played by Foster) is our central character. She works for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) program, trying “to find patterns in the chaos” (aka listening to radio static for years on end hoping to find a foreign transmission).
Ellie is an interesting character to follow. While not the most original as a scientist who rejects the notion of a higher being in favor for mathematical proofs, she has a moral rationality that makes her endearing.
Eventually, Ellie’s life’s work comes to a head when she receives a transmission that is a sequence of prime numbers sent from the star Vega, 26 light years away. Soon a television signal is received and suddenly the world is enthralled (for better and worse) by Arroway’s discovery of extraterrestrial life.
While aliens certainly do not come in peace in this weekend’s epic blockbuster Pacific Rim (Contact was released the same weekend 16 years ago), in this movie, the hostile nature of the aliens is not really explored. I thought that was an interesting exclusion. In favor, director Robert Zemeckis chooses to philosophize about whether contacting the aliens will corrupt religion as we know it. It gives the movie a different flavor than most other sci-fi films, but unfortunately the flavor is blander than the cast and crew intended for it to be. While the space jargon comes out fast and furious on a graduate school level, the philosophical debates are fairly high school.
Supposedly, this is an aspect captured much better in the book the film is adapted from, written by famed astrophysicist Carl Sagan (who, I will admit, I never even heard of until researching this film). Or, the book was adapted from the film in actuality. Sagan co-wrote the screenplay in 1979 but the dreaded “development hell” put production into a standstill. Sagan decided to format his screenplay into a book that was released as a bestseller in 1985. While strong sales numbers made the project a priority again, a number of script revisions, false starts, and a director’s game of musical chairs kept the project from release until July 1997 (unfortunately a few months after Sagan passed away).
It would be interesting to see other takes on the film that went through dozens of script changes, but I would be surprised to find a more talented cast and crew that could make a film whose crux is about religion and science into an entertaining, action-less summer hit.
Considering its subject matter and backing by a studio with wavering contact (ie. its low screen count on release), Contact delivered some otherworldly numbers, all things considered. Starring Foster, a rising Matthew McConaughey, and directed by (one of my all-time favorites) Zemeckis as his follow-up to Forrest Gump, Contact debuted in second to $20.5 million in 1,932 theaters. The action-packed sci-fi blockbuster Men In Black kept it from peak position. However, light declines week after week allowed the drama to eke its way into the century club with $100.9 million ($175 million today). But with a budget of $90 million, it wasn’t quite the financial winner ($70 million came in from overseas).
I would also imagine that the film also lost money with all of the lawsuits it had to face. Mad Max director George Miller (who unceremoniously was ousted from the project) sued Warner Bros for contract breach, while The Godfather maestro Francis Ford Coppola sued the studio and the deceased Sagan, claiming that the idea was developed while under contract with his production company. And while no lawyers were brought in for these matters, NASA took issue with the filmmakers portraying astronauts carrying cyanide pills as CNN found itself in an ethics crosshairs for allowing all of its talking heads to appear in the film made by its sister company. The Clinton administration also fired a letter to the studio for how they used and altered footage of the current president (ala Forrest Gump).
Contact wasn’t a winner with critics, either. As the film showed how decisive the lines are on religion and science, critics seemed to lock horns over the film. Called “silly and self important” as well as “cold-blooded” and lacking a villain, others thought it was one of the best sci-fi movies in recent memory, exhilarating and even magical. The film barely ranks fresh at 63% on Rotten Tomatoes, but drops down by 21% when looking at the Top Critics’ marks on the film. That can explain the lack of awards attention the movie received (garnering a single Oscar nom for Best Sound).
Zemeckis adds his usual captivating touch to make the most mundane entertaining with fascinating camera angles and the use of unnoticeable CGI that still holds up. The only fault I had was with the ending, where space looks like a Windows computer screensaver. Foster delivers a fierce performance as usual, continuing her ‘90s “do no wrong” hot streak of hits and Oscar nominations.
Contact is a poignant drama about the sci-fi that seeks to discover who is the ideal representation for humanity and what would we ask if we could talk to someone greater than ourselves. While not exactly summer fare, Contact is an enlightening big-budget drama; the same type of film that seems to be as unfortunately mysterious as extraterrestrials nowadays. While a long run of a movie, the immensely talented Foster and crew make the (albeit bumpy) journey worth it. If it wasn’t for thought-provoking cinema like this, “it seems like an awful waste of space.”
Verdict: With Us
9 out of 10