“Contact” is a movie directed by a man I have a lot of admiration for: Robert Zemeckis (“Forrest Gump”, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”). It isn’t as fun as “Independence Day” or “Stargate” because it is more believable and it works alright… until we get to the scene with the alien.

In “Contact”, Jodie Foster (“The Silence of the Lambs”, “Panic Room”) is scientist Eleanor Arroway, who spends her time listening to radio communications from outer space. When she finally discovers something the whole world gathers round to see her make ‘contact’ with the aliens. It takes a while to get going but then I enjoyed the large portion of the film before it decided to feature a totally unnecessary scene.

Jodie Foster gives an average performance here; she just doesn’t seem right for the role. I haven’t anything wrong with a female in the part or anything like that (in fact I think that’s what this film requires) but I think someone along the lines of Sigourney Weaver (“Ghostbusters”) would’ve been better. Matthew McConaughey (“A Time To Kill”), Tom Skerritt (“Top Gun”) and John Hurt (“The Elephant Man”) are all quite good here but they’re not given a lot to do. I would have liked to have seen more of them.

“Contact” has an interesting opening scene, is a bit dull for a while, really picks itself up and then shows us some awful-looking sequence with an alien; the conclusion of the film is fine but would work loads better if the dreaded scene was cut. The film is partially about faith and they defy this notion by having the scene in there in the first place. The rest of the film looks really good but the alien piece looks tacky and is completely worthless. I have a real love for the two films I mentioned Zemeckis has made but “Contact” is so flawed that despite its great level of realism throughout lots of it.