Contact

Release Date: Available now
Studio: Warner Brothers
Packaging/Materials: Single-disc Blu-ray case
Year: 1997
Rating: PG
Running Time: 2:29:00
MSRP: $28.99

	THE FEATURE	SPECIAL FEATURES
Video	1080p high definition 16x9 2.40:1	480i or 480p standard definition
Audio	Dolby TrueHD: English 5.1 / Dolby Digital: English 5.1, French 5.1, Spanish 5.1, German 5.1, Italian 5.1, Portuguese 2.0	Stereo (5.1, 2.0, and 2S)
Subtitles	English SDH, Spanish, French, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, German SDH, Italian SDH, Norwegian, Portuguese and Swedish	None

 

The Feature: 4/5

When a radio signal from deep space reveals there is indeed extraterrestrial intelligence in the universe, astronomer Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster) is the perfect candidate to say "I told you so." She's spent her entire career on SETI (the search for extraterrestrial intelligence), a passion that up to now has only yielded (at best) skeptical looks from her peers. But now she has a chance to not only prove all the naysayers wrong, but to connect with something she's longed for ever since she was a child. As a staunch atheist and dedicated scientist, she would never call her motivation to make extraterrestrial contact a spiritual or psychological need, but her own form of faith is challenged when she learns that for all her open-mindedness about the universe, she's also been quite narrow-minded about it. Her biases will ultimately deny her of the very thing she's been working towards all her life and though she eventually realizes the universe is bigger than even she was willing to admit, an unexpected series of second chances will help her see exactly how much.

As a directorial follow-up to his sentimental journey film "Forrest Gump," Robert Zemeckis's "Contact" (based on the novel by late astronomer Carl Sagan) probably can't seem more different. But watching it for the first time in 1997 I couldn't help seeing more similarities than differences between the two films, though I have yet to write the great compare-and-contrast essay I've had in mind all these years. Even without such a full-blown exercise we can see both movies explore fundamental questions about human existence, albeit "Contact" in more obvious ways. Though the opening sequence - a pullout from Earth to the far reaches of the galaxy and beyond - serves as a perfect illustration of key physics and astronomy concepts, what most will take away from it is our insignificance in the grand scheme. And the broad questions about faith and science posed to Dr. Arroway will challenge viewers regardless of where they fall in the spectrum of belief. Though the film ultimately offers few definitives to either its main character or the audience, it does highlight the fundamental importance of the questions as both the indicators and reflectors of our humanity. We may never have the answers but our questions will help take us to where we want to go.

Video Quality: 4/5

The film is correctly framed at 2.40:1 and presented in 1080p with the VC-1 codec. The image is free of physical blemishes and exhibits no signs of edge enhancement or excessive noise reduction measures. Black levels are solid and deep, though contrast is often affected by some slight, but notable, black crush. Colors during those moments can look oversaturated, though colors and flesh tones in general show satisfactory stability and depth. Fine object detail is quite good, star fields and fine textile patterns (houndstooth jackets seemed to be all the rage in 1997) standing out for their clarity.

Audio Quality: 4.5/5

The 5.1 Dolby TrueHD audio track effectively presents an impressive mix that logically tracks with the film's story development. Until the climactic machine ride scenes, surround activity is devoted mostly to providing support for the score and some occasional environmental sound effects. During the machine ride, the mix throws in enveloping directional and ambient surround effects along with some impressive levels of LFE, giving the adventure scenes great impact. Dialogue is consistently clear and intelligible as well, though I did have to raise overall volume on my receiver about 10 units to reach my standard listening levels.

Special Features: 3.5/5

The special features package uses commentaries to provide the behind-the-scenes information and devotes most of the video items to covering the film's special effects work. Overall it makes for a decent blend of material, with the isolated score being a rare highlight.

Audio commentaries: Of the three commentaries, I chose Jodie Foster's solo track to listen to. The two other tracks are by Zemeckis and Producer Steve Starkey and Senior Visual Effects Supervisor Ken Ralston and Visual Effects Supervisor Stephen Rosenbaum. Based on the latter pair's commentary for the special effects featurettes, there should be plenty to keep the CGI-minded interested. Foster in fact admits up front she's not so interested in special effects, so spends her time talking about her production experiences and insights into the characters and plot. Being the star of the film (and known for her intelligence), most viewers will gravitate to her track first, as I did, and should find it suitably informative and entertaining.

Special Effects Featurettes: Ralston and Rosenbaum walk viewers through the various special effects sequences, showing each phase of the painstaking CGI processes. Title cards provide additional detail about each sequence's specific objectives.

• The Making of the Opening Shot (20:02)
• The Making of the NASA Machine Destruction (5:52)
• The Making of the Harrier Landing (8:55)
• The High-Speed Compositing Reel (6:08)

Animated Set Tours: 3D computer graphic artist Tim Wilcox talks about the sets, which were realized in computer animated form before construction.

• Machine Fly By (1:32)
• Hadden's Plane (0:26)
• NASA Control Room (0:23)

5.1 Music-Only Track: Presented in 5.1 Dolby Digital at 640 kbps.

Theatrical Trailers: Trailer 1 runs 1:32 and Trailer 2 runs 2:28.

Recap

The Feature: 4/5
Video Quality: 4/5
Audio Quality: 4.5/5
Special Features: 3.5/5
Overall Score (not an average): 4/5

A thought-provoking drama exploring both science and faith gets very good technical treatment and a decent set of special features.

Cameron,

Nice to hear that all the pre-release speculation based on
a few early screenshots about how bad this transfer was going
to look all turned out to be false.

People are now able to come out of their homes, feel safe,
and buy this Blu-ray which sounds like a real winner.

Love this film.  Have bought the Blu-ray.  Just trying to find
time to sit and watch it.

Thanks for the review.
 

Me too, Ron. I noted in another thread that I believed all the complaints about DNR and color being way off were completely blown out of proportion. I have never taken in a commentary on this movie so the prospect of listening to all 3 of them is a little daunting.

Good review, Cameron.

I had problems with the sound.  I was getting audio through an older Denon receiver and Sony BDP-S1 via analog outs.  The resulting sound was so anemic that I moved to a different viewing environment with lesser speakers, an even older Yamaha receiver but sufficient sound.  In the anemic environment, I had turned the receiver up as far as it would go and still did not get good sound out.  In the other environment, I did not have to turn the sound up at all.  Strange.  And disappointing, because the only surround environment I've got is the one that did not put out good sound.  The other environment is a Polk SurroundBar, which sounds good, but is not the same.

I've not had performance problems like this before.

- Steve

Very impressive picture quality, and sound quality! Watched this last night and found it nothing short of impressive. Add to that, it's just flat out one of the best sci-fi films to date. If you're a fan of this film, pay no attention to those screen caps. I watched this on my 96" DIY screen from 6' away with an Epson 1080UB and a PS3. Most impressed!

Whatever I am about to write is not going to give proper
justice to CONTACT the movie or Blu-ray -- even by saying
it is probably the best title on Blu-ray at this very moment.

It has been about 10 years since I originally watched this
film on DVD.   I always knew this was a great film, but
watching it a decade later, I am surprised how good it is
today.

The film itself is remarkable.  It's a child of Robert Zemeckis,
who I think is one of the best Directors of our generation. Here
he has created a science fiction film that is not only
intelligent, but fascinating to watch.  Visually, from camera
work through special effects, this film is a feast for the
eyes and soul.

Despite all the false negative reports about this transfer
weeks prior to its release, it seems that Warner had the last
laugh.  What lies herein is one of the best Blu-ray transfers
I have seen to date.  If there was a film destined to be watched
in high definition, it was CONTACT.  It looks pristine and
sounds magnificent!

There is one scene that needs to be experienced -- LOUD.
It is the scene where Ellie is being escorted by two Asian
guards across the platform to the space pod.  That shot
of her stopping, looking down through the rotating circular
structure at the waves crashing beneath is breathtaking. It's
the perfect combination of CGI and sound.  With a transfer
this pristine, it is the epitome of what I consider to be the
perfect home theater experience.

I lost a few DVDs off my shelving today during that very 
scene.   My shelf sits right next to my SV Subwoofer,
one of the original circular models that stands nearly 5' high.  
The amount of LFE activity coming off of that subwoofer was
strong enough to shake my floor, and obviously, my wall shelves.

The only thing I was disappointed with was missing the
infamous Zemeckis shot early on in the film.  I have talked
about it for years, but for some reason -- perhaps because I
was waiting for it -- I seem to have missed it or was not fooled
by it.  Those who know what I am talking about will chime in.
On the other hand, I was reminded of the use of footage
involving President Clinton in this film and how much his people
were not happy of its inclusion.

...but I am getting a bit off point here.

Warner should be applauded for this transfer.  It is the
perfect example of how a transfer should look and sound.

Thanks for the review, Cameron, and to Ron for the additional comments. I am so glad to read that the early reports about this transfer were not correct. My copy arrived while I was out of town, and I am really looking forward to seeing this film again. It's probably been 8-10 years since I last watched this movie.

 As I stated in another thread (and being one of the first to actually watch the thing), it is an exemplary disc, both in sound and image.  I don't find the film as brilliant as others, in fact, I have real problems with it dramatically, but it's always well-meaning and its heart is in the right place - I just could have lived without the cliched stuff with James Woods and Tom Sellick - the film didn't need it - it's more interesting than that stuff, but I know that everyone thinks you need to have villains and obstacles - I don't mind the latter but just not when they're so tritely drawn as here.  

As to the screencaps, I've said for ages that one cannot trust them, especially on certain sites - other than for this particular film, there has always been a surprising amount of disagreement with that attitude (that you cannot trust them) - now people are finally catching on.  As I stated earlier, for people who love this film I cannot imagine them being happier than with this Blu-Ray.

As to this review, good job, but when did all these terms come into play and what exactly do they mean?  Everyone uses them but their proliferation in every review I read, here and elsewhere, as if these were the only descriptive words available, borders on being satiric. Crushed blacks?  What exactly are they?  Over saturated color - exactly what do you mean in regards to this disc where I saw absolutely no color that was over saturated.  

Crushed blacks Reduction of the detail in the black regions of an image by compressing the lower section of the contrast range. Going from memory, an example would be Arecibo outdoor scenes.

What is the "infamous Zemeckis shot"?  I've seen Contact many times, the most recent of which was only a couple of months ago, and I confess I am not sure what shot Ron is referring to.

I'm not sure what he's referring to either. He's known for long and complicated opening shots and Contact certainly has that so I don't know what else it could be.

I think the shots he's referring to are:
Warning Spoiler! Click to show All instances are still in the movie, and all caught my eye as a still-cool trick. :)

Those are indeed a couple of impressive shots.  I've always liked the "mirror" one, in particular.

The mirror shot is undoubtedly one of the most impressive, but I also liked how one of the commentary tracks reveals:


Warning Spoiler! Click to show
Zemeckis and David Fincher are two directors that excel at finding creative and subtle ways to use CGI to enhance a shot.

To me Zemeckis is probably the top director in the world today. He can blend stunning CGI with a warm human interest story like no-one else. Its a shame he has been sidetracked with 3D CG motion capture movies as I would love to see him tackle another big budget live action movie like the When Worlds Collide remake Spielberg owns the rights to and has been prepping for years now (Stephen Summers was due to direct). Zemeckis would be perfect for that!

Look carefully at both Cast Away & What Lies Beneath as both contain several stunning CGI shots similar to some in Contact which need a couple of viewings to fully appreciate the amazing technical design & execution.


Warning Spoiler! Click to show

Ron,
 
You're not talking about the final split second (foreshadowing) reveal in the transition from the impressive opening, history of (analog) radio/TV broadcast signal, space sequence into Ellie's eye bringing us to the present story context, are you?

That's the one shot early in the film that nobody has mentioned yet -- and would be something easily missed if one's not paying enough attention.

BTW, I haven't purchased my copy just yet, but I just sold off my DVD in a stoop sale yesterday (along w/ a sizeable batch of other DVDs).  Can't wait to get the BD and watch it again (after quite some time now)...

_Man_

I finally got around to watching my Blu-ray copy of Contact and I agree that this is one of the best Blu-ray DVDs I own to date.

Ron I am not sure what you are talking about either. All the opening sequence is there as it always has been.
 Man:

That scene is still in this transfer.

Sorry for all the speculation.  Was hoping someone could
explain the shot better than I.

No, the opening scene with Ellie'e eye is too obvious.  The
shot I am talking about is less, but just as impresssive.

Jason Charlton explains it best in the other Contact thread
located within this forum area:


It's a very famous shot.  Talked about endlessly at the
time.  Funny thing is, I missed it in this viewing probably
for the fact that subliminally I knew it was being done.

I've been calling Robert Zemeckis the 'Invisible FX Wizard' for years, he's just one of those directors who knows how to use CGI. Not overdoing it, and using it on instances where you don't expect it (like the many shots already discussed here) are prime examples of very good CG. I'm glad the disc turned out to be great after all, I was a bit worried Warner wouldn't get one of my favorite (and underrated, too) sci-fi movies right. Glad to know this is not the case, and I can order it without hesitation.

I love this movie and it was one of my first DVD purchases. It was released in the first year of the DVD launch if I remember correctly.

When my interest was high in being an effects guy -- not that I ever got anywhere there -- I was of theory that the best effect was the ones that were either (a) not there, or (b) never seen.  As for (a), if there was a way to pull off a shot that everyone believed had to be a special effect, but was actually just done through some hard work, or (b) shots like that bathroom mirror.  

Looking forward to seeing this again in HD...

Leo

Ron:

That goes to show you how good of an effect it is in that you didn't even notice at the time you watched and that it was still in that opening shot as always.

All:

What I also found very impressive is that every time you see Elle's house when she was a kid the house is in a studio and the rest of the house's next door are put into the scene. Not only is the CG first rate and the skill of the editing was so good you didn't notice a thing.

I still like the pull in shot that goes right through the house window the best.  Subtle but very effective.

Watched this the other night and was also happy to see the video quality was close to perfect.  My one complaint about the disc would be the special features... a direct port of the 1997 featurettes, so there's just nothing new here.  Not a surprise, I know, but I would've loved a documentary looking back at the making of the film.  Truly one of my favorite movies of all time, and the first DVD I bought.

Heck, the movie even starts playing right away like the original DVD.  Which I guess is a Warner thing, but it's annoying.  So many BD's take FOREVER to load that I often leave the room (sometimes without even turning on the TV) while they load.  It's annoying coming back and having it be 5 minutes into the movie.

Minor complaints though, the film is the thing.

I love that Warner releases start playing right away.  In most cases, that's what a DVD or Blu-ray should do, since if I put a disc in my players it's generally safe to assume that I want to watch the movie.  If I want to peruse the special features or do something else, that's what the "menu" button is for.

It seems odd to me that the other discs are so poorly designed (in that they "take forever to load") that you have to go out of your way to accommodate them by starting them up several minutes before you're actually ready to watch the movie, yet it's Warner, who actually gets this part right, at whom you target your complaints.

I watched this disc last night, and I will echo the positive comments in this thread. An excellent transfer for a very fine film. I had not watched this movie in several years, and forgot what a good film this really is.

BTW, I like WB method of quickly loading the disc and starting the film, especially now that they load the Dolby TrueHD track by default. I could have sent out for pizza in the time it took to load Snow White, so I loved the way Contact started up so quickly. I purchase BD's to watch the films, not a bunch of fancy menus.

I thought the transfer was good, also.

Mine hasn't arrived from Amazon yet -- since I waited for confirmations about PQ -- but I think I'm gonna do what I probably shoulda done all along (all the way back to the earlier DVD days).  I'm gonna see about tagging all the offending BDs -- mainly WB's previous releases -- w/ some kinda easily removeable sticker (or marker) to indicate that they default to the lossy track, instead of lossless track (if available).  That way I don't need to worry about not being sure and having to futz w/ it to be sure at the start of the movie whether it starts automatically or not.

Still hope that Sony would release a PS3 software update that allows us to force all BDs to start w/ their lossless track, if available, as that would solve the problem me thinks -- and I'd hope the same for all other BD players as well of course...

_Man_

 I just got this disc and I'm looking forward to finding a block of time to enjoy it! Your impressions have been so positive!

About the earlier comments on the CGI, the main one that got me wondering how they did it was when the alien machine they built exploded. It matched so well with the live action. The other effects like going through Ellie's house is amazing, but it never occurred to me until later how even more impressive that shot was.

About Warner disc that start playing right away. I too think this is great. Remember the great old days of laser discs? I enjoyed putting in the platter and then scanning forward past the FBI warning screen and to the film!

I have no problems with discs beginning to play right away...if they default to the highest bit rate audio track which unfortunately many WB discs do not (see Dark Knight).

This one does however, so all is good.