Review of Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) by Eric D — 20 Jun 2010
1977 was a pretty important year for the science-fiction genre in Hollywood. Two genre-defining movies were unleashed on the public that year: 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind,' and... what was the other one again? Oh yeah, 'Star Wars.' Right. These two films (along with Jaws, 2 years prior) essentially created the Hollywood blockbuster phenomenon that we still feel the effects of today (albeit much, much dumber).
Where 'Star Wars' was basically the flashpoint for visual effects and epic storytelling for the rest of the 20th century, Steven Spielberg's 'Close Encounters' was definitely the smarter, more human of the two. Its focus is not -the aliens- so much as it's what results from our initial contact with another sentient race.
Richard Dreyfuss is pretty much bang-on, right from his first lines--a traumatizing experience for his on-screen son, as Dreyfuss attempts to explain fractions by using a toy train set and endangers a "train-car full of people." From that point on his obsessive nature only worsens after he encounters the effects of an extra-terrestrial fly-over while investigating a power outage. His madness is overwhelmingly convincing (as is the performance of his on-screen wife and family as they "struggle" to understand his obsession).
I remember watching this when I was far too young to appreciate it (and I'm pretty sure I also remember being rather bored throughout most of it). I don't think it's fair to subject a 10 or 11 year old to a sci-fi flick that's more about the idea of contact vs. the contact itself... but that's just me.
There are very interesting visual effects that--while not anywhere close to awe-inspiring as Star Wars's--are far more realistic and believable. Ultimately though, this film is more of a study of the effects of first contact with humankind than it is about really neat aliens coming from outer space and being futuristic.
If you're into sci-fi and haven't watched this, it's definitely a must-see.
This review of Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) was written by Eric D on 20 Jun 2010.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind has generally received very positive reviews.
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