Review of Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) by Nik M — 19 Jan 2016

Steven Spielberg's spectacular UFO epic contains some of the most awe-inspiring visual effects ever committed to film, thanks to Douglas Trumbull, the FX genius behind Stanley Kubrick's landmark sci-fi classic 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Sir Ridley Scott's sci-fi classic Blade Runner, Trumbull's Oscar nominated work on this motion picture is truly phenomenal.

The story concerns Roy Neary, marvelously played by Richard Dreyfuss in a compelling performance, who is electrical lineman sent out for emergency repairs on the power-lines after a sudden massive blackout, he gets himself lost and while he is looking at a road map he witnesses an unidentified flying object that makes his truck go haywire, this will become a life-changing experience for Neary, for he will go on an obsessive crusade for the truth, losing his job, his family and almost his sanity in his pursuit of it, that will soon put him in contact with other people who have also witness the UFOs, that will include Jillian Guiler, endearingly played by Melinda Dillion, in an superlative Oscar nominated performance, as a single young mother who's little boy has been taken by the extraterrestrials.

All of this will finally lead Neary and Jillian to "Devil's Tower" Wyoming where the military and government scientists are all led by a French researcher and project leader named Claude Lacombe, played nicely by the late great French director Francois Tuffaut, who is behind a gigantic cover-up involving mass landings and visitations by UFOs.

The final encounter at the secret base at Devil's Tower is what it all about, and it is truly breathtaking with a magnificent display of visual effects wizardry, beginning with the UFO scout ships bursting from the rolling clouds in a stunning psychedelic light show, they buzz the secret base with aerial maneuvers that defy every known law of physics.

It is almost a religious experience when the mountain-size alien Mothership descends from the night sky in a halo of bright multi-colored lights, the landing and the encounter with the small child-like extraterrestrial beings that enchant the humans is indeed quite moving and up-lifting.

Brilliant direction by Spielberg, with exquisite Oscar winning cinematography by the great Vilmos Zsigmond, and John Williams's evocative Oscar nominated haunting score which is totally unforgettable.

A landmark of its genre which was nominated for 8 Academy Awards Including Best Director: Steven Spielberg. Highly Recommended.