Hey Guys!! Zane here giving you my review for Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a science-fiction mystery film, directed by Steven Spielberg and was released on November 16th, 1977. The movie’s story focuses on an average and ordinary man, Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss), and along with his family, who starts having unusual experiences with unknown objects that hover over the sky at night. Once Roy starts to notice these sightings, he starts following a path of these series of clues that lead him and his town to come in contact with visitors from space.
This is my second review and it just so happens to be another Steven Spielberg movie. Close Encounters came out two years after the game-changer that was Jaws, so people sort of had an idea to what to expect with his next movie. Clearly, this is a completely different movie than something like Jaws or even Schindler’s List just as far as tone goes. The thing I admire most about Steven Spielberg is the attention he brings to his movies, and different his can be, which makes him one of Hollywood’s greatest storytellers. In Close Encounters, Steven Spielberg’s approach was a mix of a science-fiction, in the body of a Drama because this was a very mature movie and the more he progressed as a filmmaker, I would argue that his movies progressively got more mature and Close Encounters, I think, is Spielberg’s most humanistic and heartfelt answer to Kubrick’s intellectual and cerebral look at man’s first contact with life from elsewhere in the universe in his 1968 opus “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
Close Encounters is definitely a movie to watch for entertainment purposes, but I also think that upon the release of this movie, the science-fiction genre was really taking the center stage. The late 1970s/early 1980s was the golden period for science- fiction that saw the likes of top-quality films such as Alien, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), and Blade Runner (1982) being worshipped on the pedestal for cinematic brilliance. Fresh from the box-office and critical success of Jaws (1975), Spielberg pushed the boundaries of sci-fi storytelling with a bold and visionary film that continues to weave its magic on moviegoers more than thirty years on. This movie from start to finish is awards-worthy because the movie asks a lot of big questions regarding life outside our own planet, the performances are great and the resolution of the movie is awe-inspiring, and a feast for the eyes and ears. Through the use of models, clever use of lighting, and framing of shots, Spielberg conjures up a climactic set-piece that remains one of the best in the history of Hollywood cinema.
The movie very much follows the Freytag Pyramid Story Structure, the only thing that may sway people the wrong way is the rising action of the movie, and ultimately, I think that’s all tied into the character of Roy because, while the character isn’t likable there’s no denying that he’s a relatable character. The way I would categorize the character of Roy is in the realm of a mix of a tragic hero and an accidental hero because at first, e seems like an everyday kind of man. He’s got a bunch of toys and a very interesting sense of humor, however, all those childlike qualities come with a downside: he’s impulsive, restless, and ultimately irresponsible. He forgets about his family and agrees, it seems without a second thought about when or if he’ll return, to board an alien spacecraft and head off to distant galaxies. But I found his arc the most interesting in this movie simply because the payoff for his character was very cathartic. He finally gets to be a kid for the first time in his life and there was something really sweet and sincere about.
The way the inciting incident was executed was interesting because the inciting incident in Close Encounters is very subtle and it involves Roy just sitting in his car and strange lights start to appear behind him, and it was this point in the movie where we started to see the movie rise closer and closer to the action.
Watching Close Encounters, it’s a movie that primarily focuses on story and big ideas. I think a more recent movie that’s very similar to Closer Encounters is another science-fiction film released in 2016 called Arrival. Both movies feature a part of our world where humanity comes into contact with “aliens” and the big questions there are “What do they want?”, or “Why are they here?” Close Encounters biggest social message is that language is universal and the idea that humanity has the knowledge to communicate with people not from our world, whether it’s with music, sounds or something in that vein. This conflict is a perfect example of Character vs. The Unknown because no one knows what’s happening when all these strange lights start appearing in the sky and society is doing their best to get to the bottom of things for the sake of closure. We’re dealing with the unknown and it best exemplifies the type of conflict this movie features.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind is easily one of Steven Spielberg’s best and one of his most personal movies. This film simply combines all the assets of Spielberg’s early work perfectly. Even the special effects still look pretty good, for a movie that’s 40 years old. Starting out wonderfully mysteriously and disturbing, sometimes even scary, the film soon concentrates on Dreyfuss’ character’s own approach to the things he saw on the night sky and his visions to culminate in nothing less than the biggest Christmas three ball of movie history.
My grade for Close Encounters of the Third Kind: A+
Zane's take at the Cinema's 