Buy it... if you want a touch of sentimentality from Forrest Gump and a short burst of brilliant Alan Silvestri action in one early cue.

Avoid it... if you expect a thoughtfully creative score to rival the intellectual nature of Carl Sagan's ideas.

Silvestri

Contact: (Alan Silvestri) Of all the collaborations between director Robert Zemeckis and composer Alan Silvestri at the time, Contact was the most unique. That would change in following years, of course, but there was a feeling by both score collectors and mass audiences in 1997 that something intangible about Contact was off key. The film takes inspiration from Carl Sagan's novel and outlines one possible, intellectual method of making first contact with an alien species. Religious conservatives took aim at the film, naturally, taunted by the tragic deaths caused by a religious fanatic in the story (as well as the always amusing sign saying "Jesus was an alien!" that Zemeckis was sure to give some screen time). The film didn't necessarily appeal to the pure Sagan fans either, with the adaptation stuck somewhere between the cerebral philosophies of the man and the action and adventure demanded of the big screen show. Jodie Foster's portrayal of the primary character is appropriately cold and distant, and along with the interactions with the alien species at the end of the picture, an ambivalent sense of dissatisfaction about Contact remains. The concept of an "awful waste of space," nevertheless, is one begging for a stimulating score, and despite Silvestri's engaging music for previous Zemeckis films, some listeners hear a disconnect in Contact. There were legitimate concerns raised about the placement of music in the film, especially in scenes without a score track that might have used one. Some cues seemed to offer cliched or nearly inappropriate music. But if you look at the film from Silvestri's perspective, Contact is the kind of intellectual action film that defies a clean-cut score, and when you add in the rather heartless motions of the main character, it's possible that this score was more daunting that most attempted by Silvestri at the time. The rampant fervor surrounding Forrest Gump caused fans to hope for more of the same, and while Silvestri's title theme for Contact is a variant of that score, its frequency is sparse.

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It is because of the title theme's relatively weak impact on the score that Contact becomes a potentially dissatisfying listening experience. It's a bookend theme, one meant to represent the dreams of a little girl at the start of the film and then those dreams realized at the end. Without that good-natured string theme in the middle portions, however, Contact relies on the strength of its individual cues to pull its own weight. In some cases, Silvestri succeeds, such as "Ellie's Bogey," a frantic, rhythmic piece for strings that may very well be the highlight of the score. Aided in its latter half by an electronic bass, this cue is top-notch Silvestri action. Unfortunately, the only other notable action cue in Contact is "Good to Go," a cue with many of the same elements, but slowed to a more professional pace. When you look back at the film, Silvestri misses an opportunity to pull at the emotions of the audience by creating a false positive for the first, bombed attempt to travel through space. Aside from the faintly patriotic string and brass crescendos in "Media Event" and "Button Me Up," the remainder of the score is a bland backdrop for conversational accompaniment. The interaction with the alien species is served by some truly cerebral meanderings of a slight synthesizer in the high ranges, and the moments of contemplation by the primary characters are often underscored by themeless, though harmonious sound. The "End Credits" are the major exception to all of this, of course. Providing a taste of Forrest Gump with its piano performance of the tender title theme at the outset, the full-ensemble rendition of the themes throughout the track feature the same pleasant piano rolling that every upbeat Silvestri score seems to have. It's almost as though Silvestri throws a bone to the contingent of the audience the needed this swelling of positive attitude to be satisfied with the score and film; it certainly wasn't necessary, and the ideas in the film are awe-inspiring enough to perhaps merit something less innocuous. It defeats the complexity of Sagan's concepts for some listeners, and that's entirely understandable. On the whole, though, the score is basically sufficient and has two or three standout tracks. That lingering feeling of a missed opportunity still exists, though. ***   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For Alan Silvestri reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.34 (in 32 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.27 (in 30,725 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.