"Encyclopedia Galactica"

Rating: 6/10 (25 February 2008)

Renegade scientist (played by a surprisingly willowy and womanly Jodie Foster), who has harbored an obsession with frequencies and contacting parts unknown since she was nine, nearly has her latest scientific funding pulled from her team's work in New Mexico when, after four years, they haven't any proof that life lies outside of our solar system; at that moment, the combative doctor receives first an audio, then a visual signal from a distant planet--and tangles in Washington bureaucracy for the first time. Robert Zemeckis ably directs this film-version of Carl Sagan's book, which features the usual quotient of naysayers, ego-mongers and political bastards (not to mention Matthew McConaughey as a fallen seminarian-turned-theologian and bestselling author!). The film begins so beautifully, with a magical God's eye view of the galaxy, that hope for the picture runs high for the first thirty minutes or so. After that, the narrative becomes quickly entangled in its own red tape, and one has to wade through a lot of scientific data, political bullying, and faux news-clips from CNN before the emotional final chapter. Zemeckis makes an early mistake of mixing movie fiction with real-life players, and his film is uncomfortably stamped with something of a 'cheese factor' after pointless and dated visits from Larry King (who was in on it) and President Bill Clinton (who wasn't). It all leads up to a mind-bending exploration into space for Foster, yet what she finds in the untapped fabric of the universe may strike some as facile and unfulfilling. Certainly the film's slick, savvy production and marvelous visual effects cannot be faulted, and Foster does her usual passionate work. **1/2 from ****