Contact

IT'S ALWAYS A MISTAKE to see a movie right after reading the novel it's based on, and especially an over-hyped movie like this one. The story's a good one, but the build-up is far too long and not only is the climax short and disappointingly unclimactic, it's also completely unoriginal because it's almost identical to 2001.

Unfortunately the truly majestic messages of the book are entirely absent. We do find out that the aliens are mere caretakers of the transit system, but we don't hear about what they're up to. Crucially, we don't hear about the other message, which ruins the ending because it looks like it's all over. Finally, I felt there was too much emphasis on parallels between the religious experiences of Palmer Joss and Ellie's experience in the machine. This seems to project a strongly evangelical message, which is too powerful to be diminished by the revelation that there is some evidence for Ellie's journey after all.

I've heard Contact was a big-budget movie, but it's not going to impress the tech-heads. There are some nice effects but a lot of the machine footage looks like models and there are also some very unconvincing fake aircraft. I suspect the real money went on 'unseen' SFX and the cast (I wonder how much Bill Clinton cost?), since it's quite an impressive line-up.

This is basically a big-budget TV Movie, but the real credit must go to Jodie Foster. Her jittery hand-wringing performance is, as always, totally committed and it projects Arroway's obsession better, perhaps, than even Sagan's book. The rest of the names are mere cameos, and the constant use of pseudo-newsreel material to lend authenticity is window-dressing that will be lost on British audiences (the cliched 'British' TV announcer in a bow tie will also provoke groans).

Worth seeing, but destined to be an above-average also-ran along with the likes of Stargate and The Philadelphia Experiment.