The ruminative approach and final resolution that there are no certainties in the universe, however honest, left audiences unsatisfied. But the film remains a daring work, among the most cerebral and emotional motion pictures on this subject ever released

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jun 7, 2023

If you’ve ever gazed at the sky in wonder and wondered “what if”, are a fan of the magnificent Foster (and who isn’t), or simply like first-rate storytelling, then seek Contact out.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 14, 2022

Sagan's spirit certainly comes through in the film, which makes a point of valuing scientific exploration for its own sake rather than a means to an end.

| Nov 1, 2021

The core message feels a little thinner... but the story is no less propulsive, particularly the final 40 minutes which play like an acid trip at the planetarium.

| Sep 29, 2020

Sci-fi with a dash of substance, even if Foster's romance with a badly-cast Matthew McConaughey is an unnecessary diversion.

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 26, 2020

One of the greatest science fiction films in history.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Mar 10, 2020

Despite its lineage and some impressive special effects, Contact is a disappointingly earthbound production, weighed down by the ballast of talking-heads dramaturgy and bloated storytelling.

| Jul 18, 2018

If Contact is disappointingly soft in the head, it can also enthrall. Zemeckis is such a potent imagemaker that he is capable, for long stretches at a time, of sweeping you up in his vision.

| Feb 28, 2018

| Original Score: B+ | Sep 7, 2011

Something like one of those mysterious asteroids that get the astronomers all worked up: a large body of gaseous matter surrounding a relatively small core of solid substance.

| Feb 16, 2011

Thoughtful adaptation of the Carl Sagan novel.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 22, 2010

Uma ficção científica que confere peso semelhante aos dois termos do gênero: se sua narrativa ficcional é intrigante e bem desenvolvida, sua ciência jamais se entrega ao implausível.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Jul 31, 2010

...one of the best pure science-fiction films since 2001.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Oct 6, 2009

No wonder the astronomer's philosophy of contact boils down to this: Don't call me, I'll call you.

| Aug 20, 2009

Like Jodie Foster's hopeful space voyager in the picture, "Contact" may not travel quite as far as it hopes to go, but the trip is worth taking nonetheless.

Full Review | Mar 26, 2009

With all the science and technology, Zemeckis and the writers made room for spiritual debates (some of them painfully slight), political commentary, and a strangely tepid and inert romance...

| Jan 17, 2008

Magical, captivating entertainment.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Oct 13, 2007

Begins with a big bang, gradually falls into a lull and finally succumbs to entropy.

| Jun 9, 2007

Contact takes forever to lift off.

| Jun 8, 2007

When Contact finally comes alive, it leaves you frightened and thrilled and emotionally overwrought, as only a child can be. The rest is pandering.

| Jun 8, 2007