Too close for comfort
3.5/4 stars

I recently had a unique opportunity. I got to see Steven Spielberg's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" with someone who had never seen it before. Indeed, it was thrilling to put myself in his shoes and realizing just how confusing the movie really is. The plot jumps around dangerously from one (seemingly) unrelated scene to another, leaving the audience in the dust several times. More often than once, my friend turned to me and said, "What the heck is going on?" I never did tell him, of course, partly because I didn't want to spoil the surprises, but also because I was watching it for the very first time, again. And then, there were the scenes that still leave audience members breathless, those scenes that pull us into the screen, as if our eyes have become magnets. It is not until the end of those scenes that we realize we've been holding out breath the entire time.

The film is great across the board. It was especially effective for Spielberg to write the screenplay himself, because for the first time, the script and the film shared the same marvelous, disjointed style. This is also one of John Williams's finest scores. Seriously, it beats the living heck out of more familiar soundtracks like "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones." Also, the acting is absolutely superb, especially Richard Dreyfuss as Roy Neary, the innocent bystander who is suddenly thrown in the middle of all of it.

I do have one slight criticism, and I fear that it really damages the overall effect of the film. My rating on the film would be higher if this one thing had been changed. (Warning: This is sort of a spoiler!) When the alien vessel is communicating with the humans, why did Spielberg decide to use a tuba sound? Seriously, it throws away the idea of the aliens being so "out of this world," and sounds altogether silly, in my opinion. Still, considering that this is my only complaint with the film, it's still "one of the great ones." Do yourself a favor and see it.

Review by Wolfman