Contact (Special Edition)

Contact (Special Edition) [1997] [DVD]

Rare treat - intellingent sci-fi!
To anyone who thinks that science fiction is about action-packed escapism, with ray guns and scary monsters, as all those who have jumped on the Star Wars bandwagon in the last 25 years would have us believe, watch this film. Science fiction can be plausible, intelligent and - shock, horror - have things to say just like any other form of drama. I have a personal fondness for this film for that reason, and therefore am prepared to forgive its occasional lapse into schmaltz. It's refreshing to see something that gives us a credible glimpse into what our first contact with an alien intelligence might actually be like, and how we might react to it.
Also this disc represents top value for a DVD:... here's what you get for your money:

*No less than THREE full-length audio commentaries - one from Jodie Foster, one from the director and producer, and one from the Special Effects men. And these are genuine commentaries too, not cobbled together from interviews - they are with you as you watch the film, commenting on everything you see as you see it. Together they are a wonderful eye-opener into how a film like this is made.
* Isolated music score - this option means that the film is silent for a lot of the time but provides a fascinating alternative way to view many scenes.
* Special effects featurette; sort of a technical showreel showing how many shots were composited -even the ones that don't look like FX shots.
* Production notes, the usual scene access & trailers

None of this is the cheap promo stuff that is thrown carelessly onto many discs; somebody cared enough about this film to make a real effort. all of this means you have to watch this film at least four times before you're exhausted all the disc has to offer.

If you haven't seen the film, watch out for spoilers in the other reviews on this page.

Finally a decent release for Contact
A review of an old fave of mine that has languished on a very poor DVD since release, and now finally displayed in all its glory on Blu ray.

Simply put, far superior to the approx 10 year old DVD as you would expect, though not perfect. However for a movie shot in 1997 it mostly holds up pretty well under the scrutiny of high def.
From a technical point of view this blu ray finally gives Contact the treatment it deserves. The majority of the movie is pin sharp, full of detail with well saturated colours. Though a couple of scenes dip below standard, one or two shots show some distracting banding in night skies, I noticed some scenes that had an uncharacteristic softness compared with the rest of movie. However the dips in quality were few and very brief, so not a problem to me.
The CGI elements hold up surprisingly well, you can tell of course that you are looking at CGI but it is not all embarrassing for a 12-13 year old movie. The beach scene where Ellie finally meets the 'alien' was intended to appear unreal due to the Vegan's creating of an artificial setting intended to make Ellie feel more secure (ie a bit of home) so it all has a strange look to it intentionally, but Ellie and her father appear to fade around the edges into the environment with a very blurred outline. No doubt showing the limitations of CGI and blue screen work 10+ years ago. However with the nature of the scene I don't find it a serious problem.
Scenes featuring the machine, again, for the majority look convincing and it is with these scenes that the sound really gets to work. On the whole Contact is a dialogue movie with few 'action' scenes to show off the sound design, but when we get to see the machine up close we really get an impressive sense of the machines enormous energy and momentum. When the rings spin beneath the launch pod the sound really conveys the weight and scale of the thing really helping to sell the completely CGI image.
All in all a fine effort in my opinion, for a movie desperately needing the hi def treatment as the original DVD release was annoyingly poor. Just compare the opening scene as we take a trip from earth to the outer reaches of the universe, very impressive on blu ray as opposed to the digitised mess on the old DVD.
Highly recommended upgrade for a fan of the movie.

Something Very Different and Unique
Contact is something completely different. It's belongs to the the ever diminishing group of sci-fi with brains. Because of this. It's very understandable that it gets negative feedback from the friends of no-brainer sci-fi. Actually i find it quite funny how many people have criticized the ending of Contact, saying that they were disappointed when they didn't see how the aliens looked like. I think that was one of the least important things in this movie. Still, i would've been disappointed if there had been some green alien with tentacles or one of those little grey Roswell aliens. Instead, they made an excellent choice and didn't show us the aliens at all. Really good and brave decision. In my opinion, if you were disappointed when you didn't see aliens, you didn't really understand this movie.

The religion vs. science setting is really interesting and realistic. It's fits extremely well to modern day life and i have never seen it done better in any film. The best thing about it is that the film doesn't take sides. It just portrays both of them and leaves the decision to the viewer.

Contact (Special Edition) [1997] [DVD] Directed by Robert Zemeckis Price: £2.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Delivery. Details Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk 69 new or used available from £0.04 Average customer review:

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