Is it me getting older, or has this film that had us on the edge of our seats in the '70s begun to be dated? Or does it rely too heavily on special effects that we now see through? Characters are looking a little threadbare now, and the scene changes take us away from the human interest. Still a great film, but maybe I would have been better off just bathing in the memory...
One of Steven Spielberg's best films and a science fiction epic that posits that visiting extraterrestrial life would be friendly rather than have nasty designs on the Earth. Spielberg, who also wrote the screenplay, avoids his over sentimentality that he often dripped into his films and tells a remarkable two pronged story which run in parallel and eventually converge. The main one is that of Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss), an electrical engineer, who is called out one night after a series of strange power cuts. Whilst out in the road he has a strange experience with what he believes to be a UFO and whilst his chaotic family don't believe him they become angry and fearful when he begins to obsess over a strange shape he sees in his mind. Alongside this the film intersperses a scientific investigation led by Lacombe (François Truffaut) into the appearance of strange lights seen in the sky and the discovery of formerly missing aircraft found in bizarre locations. Eventually the characters converge on a remote American location at a landmark mountain site the shape of which mirrors Neary's visions. There they experience the arrival of visiting aliens. A remarkable film brilliantly directed and edited to bring the two story lines together, the special effects are excellent for the time and this is a film that deserves recognition as one of the best science fiction films. It's a lovely story too, a family film that is has mystery, excitement and a feel good ending. It's one to sit down with your children and enjoy today. Interestingly there are three versions available, the original theatrical, a 'Special Edition' and the Director's Cut. I recommend the last one which allowed Spielberg to refine some scenes he was unhappy with in the original release and to remove a new ending that appeared in the Special Edition, an ending that was a step too far and was unnecessary.
The acting is appalling and the characters' behaviours are cringingly outdated (as you might expect) but also irritatingly implausible with long scenes of people just gazing vacantly into space with their mouths open. If you make it to the very end of the film the special effects are admittedly quite good, but I suspect Spielberg blew the entire budget on these, as the rest is like watching paint dry! The ending itself left me cold, thinking "keh...is that it?!!" I couldn't remember if I had seen it before, now I know why...there wasn't actually anything much worth remembering!