It seems like every time a really good book comes out, Hollywood rushes to make a film version of it. On rare occasion, the movie surpasses the novel. But in most cases it fails to capture the book's charm. This is no surprise, really. First of all, it's difficult to cover the contents of a 500- or 600-page novel even in a three-hour film. And secondly, many of the things that readers revel in leave moviegoers bored.
Contact falls into the category of films that don't live up to their printed predecessor. But it's still a really great flick. It's also unique in that it's a story that was originally intended for the silver screen rather than the printed page.
In 1980 and '81, the late Carl Sagan, along with his wife Ann Druyan, developed the story for a motion picture project. But the film never materialized and Sagan turned it into a novel that was published in 1985; and as I said in my review of it, this may just be the best book ever written. So when Robert Zemeckis began production of the long-awaited film version, released in 1997, he had some big shoes to fill.
Did he succeed in matching the book? No. But what he did succeed in doing was creating a great companion to the novel that allows you to enjoy this fantastic story from a different perspective.
As those who have seen the movie or read the book know, the thing that sets the whole story in motion is the receipt of one of our early TV broadcasts—namely the opening of the 1936 Olympic Games in Germany—by an alien civilization near the star Vega. The film's opening sequence, which pans out from Earth to beyond our galaxy while at the same time our music and TV broadcasts can be heard going back in time and becoming more sparse along the way, is wonderful. It is probably the most effective demonstration of how long it takes even light to travel between the stars that I've ever seen.
The casting of the film is also particularly excellent. Jodie Foster is the perfect actress for the role of Eleanor Arroway. Her performance is superb and it should have garnered her a Best Actress nomination. But the Academy rarely takes anything remotely sci-fi seriously.
Matthew McConaughey in the role of Palmer Joss is also great. He very effectively brings to life a character that is the antithesis of Arroway, and does so in a way that helps you to see both sides of the religion vs. science
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