Forrest Gump director Robert Zemeckis follows up his last success with an intelligent blockbuster, a sci-fi epic with no intergalactic battles, space monsters or little green men. Radio astronomer Ellie Arroway (Foster) has spent her whole career waiting for other-worldly beings to get in touch, and now the research money's running out. She's finally vindicated when she intercepts a message from 26 light years away which, when decoded, appears to be a blueprint for a craft that will carry one person across the galaxy. But Ellie's problems are just beginning, for she has to contend not only with scientific scepticism, military paranoia and a religious backlash, but also with the "glass ceiling". For it seems it's Ellie's boss, and not her, who will pilot the craft, shattering her lifelong dream. James Woods is superb as always as the