An average movie

I already saw this movie but, since it was a while back, I was quite eager to check it out again. The first time I watched it, I thought it was not bad but it didn’t really convince me either. Still, I couldn’t shake the idea that I missed the point the first time I watched it (the fact that Roger Ebert really loved this movie must be another reason). Well, to be honest, except for Ellie Arroway’s awe inspiring trip towards the end, I actually didn’t remember it at all. In fact, I even didn’t remember that the movie kept on going for a while after she came back. In my opinion, it actually shows what didn’t really work with this movie. Indeed, it’s pretty obvious that Robert Zemeckis wanted to deliver his own SF epic like ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ or ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ but, even if it was a decent attempt, I’m afraid he didn’t really nail it though. Basically, he tried to make a serious and convincing movie regarding the political and especially the scientific part of it but he also wanted to make an entertaining blockbuster as well. As a result, you get some really verbose scientific talks which were probably accurate combined with some bombastic music and directing but, as far as I was concerned, this mix never really worked. At least, Jodie Foster, at the time still firmly in the A list, was a perfect choice to play the lead and she was pretty much pitch-perfect here. There was also a sweet performance by William Fichtner playing a blind scientist called Kent Clark (yeah… seriously, how do they come up with these names?) but his character felt completely random. Even more problematic was Matthew McConaughey’s character. McConaughey, who was just at the start of his career, basically played some toyboy who was supposed to develop the religious implications of such an event but, at the end of the day, he was just there to make sure that the main character had a love interest. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it is still one of the most intriguing movies delivered by Robert Zemeckis and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.