disappointing and utterly turgid.

Rating: 4/10 (31 March 2005)

It is important to emphasise this isn't a bad movie by a stretch, just not an especially good one. Because well, not a lot happens.
The acting was good, very good in fact and Jodie Foster is one of the best actresses around and she puts in a studied performance and portrays an idealist scientist with compassion and verve admirably, so credit to her. This movie is far from a bad movie, and there are really intriguing aspects to it. There are many plot lines that could have been developed further, the aspect of the unknown could have been tapped into more, so too could have been the threat that a contact with an unknown quantity of alien life could be to our planet. This had a great opportunity to develop when the guy sacrificed himself with the bomb before the first mission. BUt they didn't go in depth of why he did it. They mentioned briefly through a news report he did it to save the human race, but the very next day she leaps on to the next ship regardless and went ahead with it. Thus taking away the dark themes that could have been presented.
There is an awful lot of talking in the movie! and thats a good thing if they have something captivating to say, but a lot of the movie is talk without relative action. I mean I'm not askin for guns and lazers necessarily but a little more spark in the film would have been nice. Even the love interest which was focused on had no spark.
Any relative emotion in this film was watered down or completely ignored, and there was an irritating emphasis on the media which was not well delivered by the director. I saw the directors point, the media has a huge part to play in US society, but they didn't do anything either-they didn't seem to be obtrusive and the characters payed little heed to them, so what was the point in its emphasis? when the guy blew himself up, to end the mission, one brief grieving scene from a news report was all they could come up with. The film makers can't get off that easy they need to try a little harder interms of creating emotion, suspense or intrigue to some degree.
I felt the biggest cop-out was the end, with the film desperately in need of a boost they thought her trip through worm holes and space was enough and the prospect of an alien would wet our appetite. Her trip failed to be as breathtaking as it should have been, and it really did feel like were were watching a simulation programme. Regardless it was the most interesting bit in the movie. So she meets the alien, this was the movies last chance to cause a shock but in the end decided more talking was good enough. Thus we are presented with her dad, apparently the alien downloaded him from her brain and the alien in the form of her dad says to her " We thought this image would be easier for you," but i couldn't help but think the director basically just said 'We thought this image would be easier for us!' In other words little imagination was required and again fobbed the audience off with more muffled sentiment.
This movie is neither here nor there in the end. It didn't know whether it wanted to be a drama or a news report from CNN either way it was long and turgid and about as captivating an experience as watching weeds grown on your back lawn.