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I'm back and ready to review again! Yay!
I know I'm bumping an old thread but since this is a review thread, I don't think there's a point in making another one.
Anyway, let's cut to the chase: I'm a space kid. I've always looked up at the sky and wondered if there's anybody else out there, so it stands to reason that I would fuel my obsession with movies about space, exploration and extraterrestrials. I've reached a point in which I need to look for quite a while to find a decent space movie that I haven't seen yet. I spent about an hour browsing through various "top 10 space movies of all time" lists until I found Contact listed as an honorable mention on one of those lists.
The movie shows a story of an astronomer (Ellie Arroway) struggling her entire life to find a proof of extraterrestrial life. She's facing obstacles every step of the way but doesn't give up and those very obstacles are the thing that matters the most in this picture.
The fact of the matter is, Contact is not as much about space exploration and aliens and such, as it is about the search for aliens and the process of exploration itself. Throughout the movie one has a feeling that eventually they are going to see something similar either to Independence Day or Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Nothing of the kind happens, however.
No, the movie would rather have the viewer observe and analyse how different people deal with the situation of having a solid proof of extraterrestrial intelligent life. It shows a strictly scientific approach through the main character and her friends, and a religious approach in form of Ellie's lover, thousands of protesters and one terrorist.
When I realized that the movie is going to attempt to make a comment on science and religion I wasn't sure how to feel. I thought that it's going to show one of the sides in a better light than the other. That is not what this movie did and that is exactly what makes this movie great. From my experience, if you put a religious person and a strict scientist in an argument against each other, compromise is an unlikely outcome. Neither side will abandon their beliefs and it appears that the makers of Contact were aware of that.
They didn't just say: "religion is the right way to go" and they didn't say: "religion is crazy and science is great" either. What they did is show that fighting over that is ridiculous. There's no proof that either one of those is better after all and so, until there is, both sides should coexist peacefully and search for the truth together.
The movie takes the viewer on a journey not through space but through their own beliefs and philosophies and makes them realize certain things. Movies that achieve this sort of thing are rare and are usually critically acclaimed. This one, however... well, 63% on Rotten Tomatoes and 7.3 on IMDb. It's been a while since I've seen a movie this underrated.
I say that it deserves more than this. I say this deserves a spot right next to 2001: a space odyssey. Then again, maybe I misinterpreted the movie completely. Maybe it doesn't really matter if I did. Perhaps the only thing that matters is what you carry out of the experience. See for yourself.
I know I'm bumping an old thread but since this is a review thread, I don't think there's a point in making another one.
Anyway, let's cut to the chase: I'm a space kid. I've always looked up at the sky and wondered if there's anybody else out there, so it stands to reason that I would fuel my obsession with movies about space, exploration and extraterrestrials. I've reached a point in which I need to look for quite a while to find a decent space movie that I haven't seen yet. I spent about an hour browsing through various "top 10 space movies of all time" lists until I found Contact listed as an honorable mention on one of those lists.
The movie shows a story of an astronomer (Ellie Arroway) struggling her entire life to find a proof of extraterrestrial life. She's facing obstacles every step of the way but doesn't give up and those very obstacles are the thing that matters the most in this picture.
The fact of the matter is, Contact is not as much about space exploration and aliens and such, as it is about the search for aliens and the process of exploration itself. Throughout the movie one has a feeling that eventually they are going to see something similar either to Independence Day or Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Nothing of the kind happens, however.
No, the movie would rather have the viewer observe and analyse how different people deal with the situation of having a solid proof of extraterrestrial intelligent life. It shows a strictly scientific approach through the main character and her friends, and a religious approach in form of Ellie's lover, thousands of protesters and one terrorist.
When I realized that the movie is going to attempt to make a comment on science and religion I wasn't sure how to feel. I thought that it's going to show one of the sides in a better light than the other. That is not what this movie did and that is exactly what makes this movie great. From my experience, if you put a religious person and a strict scientist in an argument against each other, compromise is an unlikely outcome. Neither side will abandon their beliefs and it appears that the makers of Contact were aware of that.
They didn't just say: "religion is the right way to go" and they didn't say: "religion is crazy and science is great" either. What they did is show that fighting over that is ridiculous. There's no proof that either one of those is better after all and so, until there is, both sides should coexist peacefully and search for the truth together.
The movie takes the viewer on a journey not through space but through their own beliefs and philosophies and makes them realize certain things. Movies that achieve this sort of thing are rare and are usually critically acclaimed. This one, however... well, 63% on Rotten Tomatoes and 7.3 on IMDb. It's been a while since I've seen a movie this underrated.
I say that it deserves more than this. I say this deserves a spot right next to 2001: a space odyssey. Then again, maybe I misinterpreted the movie completely. Maybe it doesn't really matter if I did. Perhaps the only thing that matters is what you carry out of the experience. See for yourself.