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This one almost got five stars from me. It was tight. Actually, I might still give it that, but for now, let's just put it at four stars.
Ever since man has looked up at the night sky, there has been a rightful fascination there. To go beyond what we know. Of course though, reality heartily disagreed with this notion, at least for a very long while. We quickly found out that if we wanted to get there, then it was going to take more than just fanciful hopes and dreams. It would take investigation and pursuing the truth. Initially, this endeavor was sloppy and disorganized, but as the centuries waxed and waned, our knowledge grew, and our methods got better. I think all this really took off with the advent of the scientific method. You see glimmers of it here and there when you look at ancient history, but I think it didn't really get formalized until Rene Descartes published a work of his titled, "Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting One's Reason and of Seeking Truth in the Sciences", or simply, "Discourse on the Method" for short.
Coming back to Contact, it was originally a written work by Carl Sagan. He was also directly behind the making of this movie adaptation of that work, but sadly, he died before he could finish the movie in full, and others had to take over. For the movie itself, it's very well written, and it's clear that a lot of love and care went into the making of it all around. Unfortunately, it is still not entirely a perfect movie, as much as I wish to say that it is. There are two small problems, and then a much larger issue at the end.
The first small problem is simply a missed possibility that is not discussed in the movie. When Ellie confronts Drumlin about the sudden pulling of funding, he gives two possibilities for alien life, both of them a bit bleak. Ellie responds with her usual passion. What both of them miss though is a third possibility that, assuming aliens were out there, maybe it would actually be better for us to not try to contact them simply because we're not ready for that as a species. We can't even manage living with each other, and now we're going to bring aliens into the mix? Bad idea, I say.
The second small problem is when Ellie finally arrives on the alien world, he meets her dad. Well, it's quickly explained that it's not really her dad, but an image of him. That seems to be piloted by an alien... While I might be able to see some logic behind that, where it gets weird is when he shows fatherly affection to her, and then the whole scene falls apart. This alien doesn't know Ellie. Ellie doesn't know them. So why is this alien acting so affectionately toward Ellie? It's just... Weird. I totally get wanting to assume some kind of human form to smooth over unnecessary social friction on the first meeting. Very understandable. But the way they act toward Ellie is incredibly off-putting. Like a good neighbor, stay over there.
The third big problem is when Ellie gets back and then is hauled into a hearing with the United States government concerning what she has reported. All of that is fine. Great, even. All the way up until after the hearing when it's said by Rachel Constantine that there's an investigatory report on the whole thing, and it shows that there was 18 hours of static footage. Ok thennnn... First of all, why the hell wasn't this information presented at the hearing??? Did it just come later after the hearing? If so, why did they have the hearing if they didn't all the information concerning the results of the experiment? It feels so contrived.
Maybe they just really wanted Ellie to give that epic speech? Fair enough, but they could have easily written SOMETHING in such as the report not being quite finished but the government wanted to continue with the hearing anyway. It would have taken like 10 seconds to write it into the script and 10 more seconds to film it. It would have allowed them to have their cake and eat it too.
Putting that aside though and the story and characters in general, there are two very fun highlights to this movie at least for me personally. Your mileage may vary though. The first one is when Ellie is walking to the pod with the machine on and idling. It's just... Soooooooooo cool looking and so well done. That whole scene just does an amazing job of getting you utterly pumped for what's about to happen next. I wish I could have seen that in theaters. And then the second one is when a planted bomb blows up the machine. I thought it was just going to be a quick little explosion off in the distance, but nope. The special effects people went absolutely balls to the wall with this scene, and again, the epic destruction on display looks soooooo good and cool. Very well done.
So, in conclusion, what is this movie about? This movie is about science. But it's not just about what you usually think of when someone says the word, "science". This movie also about the struggles involved with such, both within and without. The courage that it takes to put one foot forward in front of the other into entirely unknown territory and the hope and fear it gives others on the outside. Science is about so much more than just beakers and measuring scales and lab coats. Those are just coverings and the equipment we use at times. No. Science is, in actuality, the pursuit of truth and the methods that we use to pursue it effectively. Nothing less and nothing more. And it will take nothing less and nothing more than the effective pursuit of truth to elevate us to the heights we wish to reach. To progress eternally in power, knowledge, and passion.
But we will never get there or even get started until someone is willing to take a brave stride into the dark unknown.
Ever since man has looked up at the night sky, there has been a rightful fascination there. To go beyond what we know. Of course though, reality heartily disagreed with this notion, at least for a very long while. We quickly found out that if we wanted to get there, then it was going to take more than just fanciful hopes and dreams. It would take investigation and pursuing the truth. Initially, this endeavor was sloppy and disorganized, but as the centuries waxed and waned, our knowledge grew, and our methods got better. I think all this really took off with the advent of the scientific method. You see glimmers of it here and there when you look at ancient history, but I think it didn't really get formalized until Rene Descartes published a work of his titled, "Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting One's Reason and of Seeking Truth in the Sciences", or simply, "Discourse on the Method" for short.
Coming back to Contact, it was originally a written work by Carl Sagan. He was also directly behind the making of this movie adaptation of that work, but sadly, he died before he could finish the movie in full, and others had to take over. For the movie itself, it's very well written, and it's clear that a lot of love and care went into the making of it all around. Unfortunately, it is still not entirely a perfect movie, as much as I wish to say that it is. There are two small problems, and then a much larger issue at the end.
The first small problem is simply a missed possibility that is not discussed in the movie. When Ellie confronts Drumlin about the sudden pulling of funding, he gives two possibilities for alien life, both of them a bit bleak. Ellie responds with her usual passion. What both of them miss though is a third possibility that, assuming aliens were out there, maybe it would actually be better for us to not try to contact them simply because we're not ready for that as a species. We can't even manage living with each other, and now we're going to bring aliens into the mix? Bad idea, I say.
The second small problem is when Ellie finally arrives on the alien world, he meets her dad. Well, it's quickly explained that it's not really her dad, but an image of him. That seems to be piloted by an alien... While I might be able to see some logic behind that, where it gets weird is when he shows fatherly affection to her, and then the whole scene falls apart. This alien doesn't know Ellie. Ellie doesn't know them. So why is this alien acting so affectionately toward Ellie? It's just... Weird. I totally get wanting to assume some kind of human form to smooth over unnecessary social friction on the first meeting. Very understandable. But the way they act toward Ellie is incredibly off-putting. Like a good neighbor, stay over there.
The third big problem is when Ellie gets back and then is hauled into a hearing with the United States government concerning what she has reported. All of that is fine. Great, even. All the way up until after the hearing when it's said by Rachel Constantine that there's an investigatory report on the whole thing, and it shows that there was 18 hours of static footage. Ok thennnn... First of all, why the hell wasn't this information presented at the hearing??? Did it just come later after the hearing? If so, why did they have the hearing if they didn't all the information concerning the results of the experiment? It feels so contrived.
Maybe they just really wanted Ellie to give that epic speech? Fair enough, but they could have easily written SOMETHING in such as the report not being quite finished but the government wanted to continue with the hearing anyway. It would have taken like 10 seconds to write it into the script and 10 more seconds to film it. It would have allowed them to have their cake and eat it too.
Putting that aside though and the story and characters in general, there are two very fun highlights to this movie at least for me personally. Your mileage may vary though. The first one is when Ellie is walking to the pod with the machine on and idling. It's just... Soooooooooo cool looking and so well done. That whole scene just does an amazing job of getting you utterly pumped for what's about to happen next. I wish I could have seen that in theaters. And then the second one is when a planted bomb blows up the machine. I thought it was just going to be a quick little explosion off in the distance, but nope. The special effects people went absolutely balls to the wall with this scene, and again, the epic destruction on display looks soooooo good and cool. Very well done.
So, in conclusion, what is this movie about? This movie is about science. But it's not just about what you usually think of when someone says the word, "science". This movie also about the struggles involved with such, both within and without. The courage that it takes to put one foot forward in front of the other into entirely unknown territory and the hope and fear it gives others on the outside. Science is about so much more than just beakers and measuring scales and lab coats. Those are just coverings and the equipment we use at times. No. Science is, in actuality, the pursuit of truth and the methods that we use to pursue it effectively. Nothing less and nothing more. And it will take nothing less and nothing more than the effective pursuit of truth to elevate us to the heights we wish to reach. To progress eternally in power, knowledge, and passion.
But we will never get there or even get started until someone is willing to take a brave stride into the dark unknown.
