Released in 1997, directed by Roger Zemeckis and based on a story by Carl Sagan. Staring Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt, James Wood and Angela Bassett.
The film is a thoughtful treaty on science and religion, which sees orphaned astrophysicist, Dr. Ellie Arroway discover a signal from an extraterrestrial source containing instruction to build a machine and sets out to make it happen.
The film follows the efforts of a diverse group of people as mankind attempts to come to terms with the news they are not alone, whilst simultaneously attempting to build the device. Meanwhile, Ellie does her damnedest to hog all of the glory and steal the limelight, only to see all her plans for self-aggrandising scuppered by her science boss Professor David Drumlin, Tom Skerritt who heroically thwarts her plans. Sadly, he dies at the hands of Ellie's secret sidekick, a religious fanatic played by William 'Jake' Busey who blows up the first device, killing David and thus allowing Ellie to take his place and flight off to meet the aliens.
In an original ending to the film, Ellie meets the aliens who turn out to be hellbent on invading the Earth and enslaving all mankind, and teleports all the gold from Fort Knox to their home world, which causes their atmosphere to explode.
Anyway, this is another long film, running to 149 minutes, which manages to marry a romantic subplot alongside all the science guff and the search to crack the code the aliens send us, however it's the length that makes this so enjoyable, the measured script, the ebb and flow of Ellie's journey. There are all too few adult science fiction films which focus on ideas rather than Wham Bam Thank you Mam! To this short list you can add, (obvs) 2001: A Space Odyssey, 2010: The Year We make Contact, Colossus: The Forbin Project and Arrival, The Martian and Forbidden Planet.
Slow, profound and moving I loved this film when I first saw it and still love it to this day. Jodie gives another strong performance and her chemistry with Matthew McConaughey is strong. Zemeckis directs with his usual skill and flair, and only the repetitive music by Alan Silvestri, which feels a little too manipulative, mars this outing.
9/10
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