Kontakt

Contact is certainly not as shallowly appealing as the famous Zemeckis Back to the Future trilogy, but in the director's filmography and the genre of sci-fi films, it occupies an even more important place. Zemeckis proved that it was possible to make an audience-friendly sci-fi film without cheap genre props and action scenes. Zemeckis is constantly involved in the field of scientific theories and his world vision of contact with extraterrestrial civilization has a realistic basis. The driving forces of the film are dramatic, well-written dialogues, convincingly portrayed character psychology, impressive plot twists, and clever film ideas. The film is very well cast and also well-acted. The budget is adequate for the demanding artistic vision, and Zemeckis luckily had a reputation from previous successful films and was able to impress the producers. Overall impression: 80%. (20.06.2006)

I really loved Contact from the very first moment and it did not stop amazing me to the very end. Carl Sagan's name as the author of the original is a guarantee that the film will consist of deep philosophizing on the subject of science, faith, truth and knowledge, rather than a shocking portrayal of the first contact with little green men (or other strange things). Strangely enough, the film absorbs all the distinctive parables and ideas without much difficulty, although sometimes their far-reaching aspects and the explicitness of their expressions move on the thin edge of cheesy. Yet the search of the sympathetic scientist for "first contact" (but rather the very nature of knowledge) is riveting and well filmed. It's just a shame that Zemeckis couldn't visually imitate Kubrick's epic 2001: A Space Odyssey... But then I'd be asking for too much... (30.03.2004)

A pleasant sci-fi film that managed to arouse in me an acute and impatient curiosity to know what would happen next, what kind of truths about alien civilisations would be revealed (this is something that the mythology episodes of X-Files manage to do regularly). Pity that weird and long ending. (23.06.2011)

Robert Zemeckis' underrated exploration of space, politics, and most importantly, interpersonal relationships, is something I appreciate more and more each day. From a pleasant and fulfilling experience, it escalated into a film that projects itself into various life situations, dangerously frequently. In my eyes, this is the role of Jodie Foster's life and probably the centerpiece of Zemeckis' journey towards spiritual rebirth (initiated by Jenny in Forrest Gump and concluded with Chuck in Cast Away). That journey was terribly long and yet completely simple. (03.06.2008)

A smartly written story that seems so believable that it could easily happen tomorrow. It perfectly fulfils the meaning of the term SCIENCE-fiction. I've read the book by Carl Sagan, but the movie is even better, strange as that it might sound. BTW, Johny_MH, you are wrong. Contact was not a flop, it made over 100 million in the US, here it fizzled out without much interest. I guess it’s because audiences are not very interested in sci-fi unless there’s cosmic crap and laser beams. I saw it in the cinema on a wide screen and it was my greatest cinematic experience of the year. (17.07.2002)