Contact PG
Robert Zemekis takes the complex Cosmos inspired Carl Sagan story, Contact, and turns it into a pale farce of what could have been an epic space opera about the first contact of humans and aliens. Jodie Foster plays a SETI woman who battles hardball politics and evil tycoons to get to where she is, only to have the biggest letdown of anyone in movie history, to be denied that which was obvious to the audience, proof of alien life out there. Incidentally, this is not what happened in the book! In the book, the male lead actually does meet the alien and sends a message back, thanking them for their gift. Not sure why Zemekis chose not to go with the happy ending in the book. Instead, he goes for schmaltzy peekaboo dreck when Foster meets the fantastic alien, and it morphs into her long lost Daddy! What the Hell? Yep, that's what happens. Not from the book, either. Then Daddy alien makes it impossible for the bigwigs funding Foster's little day trip to realize she actually went where no one has ever been, and crossed the light years to meet the alien. It gets 2 stars for being cool up until the end. Yes, we get that it's about her father's radio, but does it have to be her Father? Sheesh!
Review by Adam Browne
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