Contact [Blu-ray]

Director: Robert Zemeckis Robert Zemeckis

Overview

The search for life outside our solar system becomes a personal and spiritual quest for a young researcher. Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster) is a scientist who lost her faith in God after her parents died when she was a child. However, Ellie has learned to develop a different sort of faith in the seemingly unknowable: working with a group that monitors radio waves from space, Ellie hopes that some day she will receive a coherent message from another world that will prove that there is a world beyond our own. Ellie's hard work is rewarded when her team picks up a signal that does not appear to be of earthly origin. Ellie decodes the message, which turns out to be plans for a space craft, which she takes as an invitation for a meeting with the aliens. Ellie and her fellow researchers soon run into interference from a White House scientific advisor, David Drumlin (Tom Skerritt), who cuts off their funding and tries to take credit for their achievements. However, Ellie receives moral support from Palmer Joss (Matthew McConaughey), a spiritual teacher who advises President Clinton and tries to persuade her to accept the existence of a higher power, and financial backing from S.R. Hadden (John Hurt), a multi-millionaire willing to fund her attempts to contact the source of the message. Contact was based on a novel by Carl Sagan, who advised director Robert Zemeckis during the film's production until his death in 1996.

Product Details

Release Date:	10/06/2009
UPC:	0883929064144
Original Release:	1997
Rating:	PG
Source:	Warner Home Video
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	2:29:00
Sales rank:	13,481

Special Features

3 commentaries: Jodie Foster; Robert Zemeckis and Steve Starkey; Ken Ralston and Stephen Rosenbaum; 4 special effects featurettes; Music-only audio track (5.1); Theatrical trailers

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Jodie Foster	Ellie Arroway
Matthew McConaughey	Palmer Joss
James Woods	Michael Kitz,Michael Kitz
John Hurt	S.R. Hadden
Tom Skerritt	David Drumlin
William Fichtner	Kent
David Morse	Ted Arroway
Angela Bassett	Rachel Constantine
Geoffrey Blake	Fisher
Maximillian Martini	Willie
Rob Lowe	Richard Rank
Jake Busey	Joseph
Jena Malone	Young Ellie
Tucker Smallwood	Mission Director
John Holliman	Himself
Bobbie Battista	Herself
Dee Dee Myers	Herself
Bryant Gumbel	Himself
Larry King	Himself
Jay Leno	Himself
Ann Druyan	Herself
Maria Celeste Arraras	Latina Anchor
Tom Skerrit	Actor
Timothy McNeil	Actor
SaMi Chester	Actor
Henry Strozier	Actor
Laura Elena Surillo	Actor
Michael Chaban	Actor
Thomas Garner	Actor
David St. James	Joint Chief
Conroy Chino	Actor
Dan Gifford	Actor
Vance Valencia	Actor
Natalie Allen	Actor
Geraldine Ferraro	Actor
Leon Harris	Actor
Donna J. Kelley	Actor
Kathleen Kennedy	Actor
Robert D. Novak	Actor
Geraldo Rivera	Actor
Bernard Shaw	Actor
Claire Shipman	Actor
Tabitha Soren	Actor
Alan Silvestri	Composer

Technical Credits

James V. Hart

Michael Goldenberg

Carl Sagan

Robert Zemeckis	Director,Producer
Steve Berg	Special Effects
Joan Bradshaw	Executive Producer,Producer
Victoria Burrows	Casting
John Dykstra	Special Effects
Allen Hall	Special Effects
Ian Kelly	Special Effects
Lynda Obst	Executive Producer,Producer
Ken Ralston	Special Effects
David Rubin	Casting
Steve Starkey	Producer
Randy Thom	Sound/Sound Designer
James V. Hart	Screenwriter
Michael Goldenberg	Screenwriter
Carl Sagan	Screenwriter,Producer
Ann Druyan	Producer
Steve Boeddeker	Sound Effects
Sara Bolder	Sound Effects
Pacific Ocean Post	Special Effects
Big Sky Post	Special Effects
Weta Digital	Special Effects
Industrial Light & Magic	Special Effects
CIS Hollywood	Special Effects
William Kaplan	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

One of the few really entertaining and intellectually engaging science fiction-dramas of the decade, this box-office hit from director Robert Zemeckis is also surprisingly emotional. A believable basic premise, solid character development, and an absorbing foray into the real-life political and social ramifications of a major scientific discovery keep the film bristling with energy; so do some kinetic special effects sequences not limited just to space flight, but which also include the digital insertion of President Bill Clinton into the proceedings. All of these elements effectively combine to make for what amounts to a thinking person's thrill ride. Only the vacant and oddly unengaged performance of Matthew McConaughey, playing what is typically the supportive, challenging female role, is a misfire, though it may not be the actor's fault. In a nutshell, McConaughey is called upon to play a sexy philosopher with wounded pride, a good ol' boy drawl, and a tendency to Bible-thump, who is somehow not too right wing and ends up in a powerful government post under a liberal president. Clearly, his is the film's most troubling character and could have used a little re-imagining. Still, McConaughey plays only a small supporting role that is the one distraction in an otherwise enjoyable and amazingly credible picture. It's truly a surprise that Contact (1997) works so well, based as it is on a novel by the late, great Carl Sagan, famed for his skepticism about interstellar travel and alien life forms. Maybe it takes a doubter to create a truly convincing and plausible story about such credibility-challenging subjects.

All Movie Guide - Karl Williams