Pretty good, but way over-rated

Rating: 7/10 (13 September 1998)

I didn't read the book, but if it was trying to say that a god exists because of the mathematical equation of a circle, I'd have to say the book was probably very stupid. However, I didn't get the impression that the movie was trying to prove to everyone that "God" exists. I got the impression that it was an equal minded, and very reserved look at the religious and ethical qualities of a contact situation. Too reserved, in my opinion. When I heard the movie had something to do with god, I definately hopeed it would be more controversal than it was. Certainly it started us thinking about religion, and sparked some conversations, but it wasn't a very big spark. They tackled a very important subject, but in my opinion, not nearly hard enough. As far as this movie being more intelligent than most sci-fi movies, that is ridiculous. Just because a movie has no action, happens to star Jodie Foster, or very carefully tries to bring up the issue of religion, doesn't mean that it was a work of genius. Even though I was pretty bored during some of it, I still think that it was a fairly good movie, but let's not get too carried away.