Personally, I found Contact to be a remarkably banal and tedious film which would have been much improved by adding a Keystone Cops style chase at the climax. Or maybe some Ninjas.
However, I actually came here to talk about Chronicles of Riddick. It sums up everything which is wrong with science-fiction film making these days. Like Matrix Revolutions, it consists of nothing more than special effects, fights, and explosions, yet still manages to be insufferably boring.
Also, I found Riddick to be the most insufferably smug action hero in the history of cinema. I'd have paid good money just to watch someone give him a good slapping. He reminded me of that old Simpsons episode where a bunch of executives are sitting around a table designing a new "cool" character to add to Itchy and Scratchy and they end up with an irritating dog in shades who everybody hates on sight. Riddick is that dog.