Far too long of a film, too many religious messages

Rating: 6/10 (24 July 2009)

Ever watch a sparkler put on a fantastic show for 10 seconds only to see it fizzle away into an unimpressive glowing cinder on a charred metal stick for another 10 seconds? Yeah, that's Contact. That's the review, right there. There's not really anything else to say. I don't need to get into the details because that's all there is to say, really. Save for this next part:
On the subject of religion: This movie is 12 years old so it may have been more commonplace at the time; but even for the 90's it seemed like it put too much emphasis on it. The whole "religion and science can co-exist" theme the movie had going is entirely unrealistic and only serves to confuse the general public into thinking that reality is this great unknown where no one can tell whether Science or Religion is right. Religion and Science can't co-exist, because they directly contradict each other. The message this movie was unnecessary, and essentially ruined it for me.
And I believe Mr. Garrisson's opinion of the last bit of Contact says it best. I'll leave you to figure out what he said, I don't much care for spoiling it.