A fantastic piece of real Sci-fi.

Rating: 10/10 (5 March 2004)

I thought they didn't make real Sci-fi in Hollywood. After seeing Star Wars, Alien, Predator, and later, Admageddon, Independence day etc etc. I've gotten the impression that they only make these kinds of "sci-fi" films in Hollywood. The no-brainers as i like to call them. They are really all about the "fiction" side of "science fiction". Of course you can't really blame the film makers since they make movies that the general public likes and right now, it seems to enjoy these no-brainers. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying i'm a great intellectual or anything, i just don't share the opinion that a good sci-fi film needs to have large explosions, aggressive aliens, people getting killed by colorful beams etc etc.

**Spoilers***
The 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.

Another important thing in the movie is realism. One very impressive scene, in particular, comes to mind. Ellie is in a car, going through the crowds after the signals had been received and picture of Hitler been discovered in it. The nazis are saluting Hitler, new age fanatics are saying that UFOs are coming, some religious groups think that Jesus is returning etc. That scene really gave me goosebumps. That's exactly how people would react if something like that happened in real life.
I didn't intend to write yet another review, and i won't. I'll just say that this movie is really really good. They've done a great job at filming Carl Sagan's classic book. If you want to see a really thought provoking, well balanced sci-fi film, not just another one where Bruce Willis saves the planet at last moment, watch The Contact. It is Sci-fi at its best.