A Reel 25: MEN IN BLACK and CONTACT

 

This month marks the 25^th anniversary of two films that have become sci-fi classics. 

 

The first came over the July 4^th holiday weekend, when the Barry Sonnenfeld-directed MEN IN BLACK landed on the big screen. Based on the comic series of the same name, MIB followed the efforts of two agents (Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones), working for a secret, alien-monitoring organization, to stop an incoming galactic threat. Co-produced by Steven Spielberg, MIB used the makeup and creature-creation wizardry of Rick Baker to bring the many diverse aliens to life, and sported a supporting cast of Rip Torn, Linda Florentino, Vincent D’Onofrio, Tony Shalhoub, and Jon Gries. 

 

MEN IN BLACK was a box office hit, earning enough to become the third-highest opening weekend of all time, and gave Will Smith his second consecutive July 4^th hit…having appeared in INDEPENDENCE DAY the year before. It would finish 1997 as the third-highest grosser, behind TITANIC and THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK. The film would do well with critics, and would earn three Oscar nominations: Best Art Direction, Makeup, and Original Score (Danny Elfman). It would win for Makeup. 

 

One week later, another sci-fi film would arrive that couldn’t be more different from MEN IN BLACK. The Robert Zemeckis-directed CONTACT. 

 

Co-written by famed astronomer Carl Sagan, CONTACT followed a scientist (Jodie Foster) who discovers a signal from space, which triggers a world-wide interest and conflict. Robert Zemeckis, who had won Oscars with FORREST GUMP (1994), and dazzled us with the BACK TO THE FUTURE trilogy, was brought on to direct and took advantage of real-world locations such as the MIR Space Station and the Very Large Array in New Mexico. The film had a strong supporting cast including Matthew McConaughey, James Woods, Tom Skerritt, Angela Bassett, Rob Lowe, Jake Busey, David Morse, William Fichtner, and the late great John Hurt. Alan Silvestri provided the score. 

 

Despite being a sci-fi film, CONTACT went for realism by using real-life news reporters and network news. Footage from then-President Bill Clinton was repurposed, which earned some controversy. Despite the minor uproar, CONTACT would do well with critics, with famed film writer Roger Ebert adding the film to his Great Movies collection. It would win the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation and several Saturn Awards. It would earn one Oscar nomination, for Best Sound. 

 

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Twenty-five years ago this month, we were treated to two sci-fi films that could not have been more different from each other. MEN IN BLACK was comedy and action, taking two mega-movie stars and throwing them into a fistfight with a space-roach. On the other hand, CONTACT was a thinker, unraveling a galactic mystery while debating the endless question of science vs. belief. Neither movie was wrong in the approach, as it was proof that sci-fi is, and maybe always was…a genre of film that can go in all directions. There are no limits to science fiction, and the combo of MEN IN BLACK and CONTACT took us there and beyond.