Close Encounters of the Third Kind 1977
I had seen bits and pieces of this movie over the years, but never the whole thing. In 2017 a 4K version was released at the same time as a new Blu-ray release, so I got the Blu-ray (figuring 4K doesn’t work that great for old movies). There are three versions of the movie included: the original theatrical version, a special edition, and the director’s cut. After reading up on it a little, I opted for the director’s cut which seems to be the closest to what Spielberg wanted to show.
There isn’t much of a plot, but the movie still moves along well. It mostly centers around Richard Dreyfuss’ character who has a UFO experience that makes him kind of crazy. It was a little disappointing knowing about Devils Tower already since a lot of the movie involves a big buildup to that, but still fun seeing that character’s growing obsession with the tower. While Dreyfuss is the standout, everyone does a good job, even the little kid. Also the movie just looks great. Spielberg was great at lighting and angles and the special effects still look pretty good by not getting carried away with realism. The movie is unusual in not having big conflicts or much in the way of action scenes. It would have been so easy to have the military trying to fight the aliens or weaponize them, so it was nice that the movie avoided that. I don’t know if anyone today would make a movie with such a subdued climax. And I think in some ways it was a little disappointing that aliens come all this way and all we can do is communicate 5 musical notes that are basically nothing more than “hello"?
It’s still a neat movie, a classic monster mystery that is slowly revealed, even if the monster itself turns out to be benign. It is an effective formula and executed very well by a master of the genre.
Written: 20 Dec 2017
Owned on: Blu-ray, Digital