If only the world would wake up and listen...believe!

Rating: 7/10 (30 November 2002)

Tremendous, provocative and enlightening. Robert Zemeckis brings Carl Sagan's novel and story to the big screen. Science or science fiction. Very philosophical and able to cause your heart to stammer. A radio astronomer(Jodie Foster)spends her lifetime to prove there is intelligence somewhere deep in space. She picks up the transmitted signal from a distant star that gives a blueprint for a vehicle that will take an occupant to the source of transmission. The young woman struggles against political pressure to be the first person to visit with alien life. When she finally gets the chance, no one will believe she ever made the trip let alone believe her experience that shows up on audio/visual tape as eighteen hours of static. A near flawless cast that features: Matthew McConaughey, David Morse, James Wood, John Hurt, Tom Skerritt, Rob Lowe and Jake Busey. When it comes time for special effects...superb. Over two and a half hours long, but well worth the watch. I feel that Sagan will smile through eternity.