I'm almost 40 and just watched this and I have to say it's extremely overrated. The special effects are terrible and I was practically bored to tears. The end was ok but not worth the buildup. This is one of Spielberg's worst movies.
shareWhat is sad, is people that make a movie good based only on acting. If it has bad acting, its the worst movie ever or one of them. I say your one of the worst critics. There are a lot on this website, that just are bad critics and should never been listened to or even excepted to listen to their recommendations of what a good movie is.
It maybe a long drawn out movie to the end, but it is heck of a lot better than some horror movies with build up and fail at the end altogether. So many for example 'The Conjuring' and 'The Innkeepers' and so forth. Those movies could have the best acting in the movie business, and still be the worst.
I know I would be bashed for this one too. Found footage is the worst genre ever to exist. Toddlers do better camera work than the professionals on that genre.
I am a gore watching freak!!!
If it don't have it, it isn't worth the watch.
I know a lot of people see this film as a masterpiece. It does nothing for me. But then, I can't think of a single Spielberg film that I thought was as good as the reviews and public acclaim. Just made myself watch CE3K again on SyFy after at least 20 years and... the love is just not there. Sorry. Glad I am not alone in my thinking.
On the subject of special effects, it's hard to look back at effects that were done in the pre-digital era and not laugh. However, having grown up in the days before CGI effects, I will say that CE3K's effects were about as good as they got back then. We're just used to a different level of production these days. I can at least give the special effects departments of yore a big hand for utilizing far more creativity and ingenuity than are made use of today. As hokey as some of it now appears, it all was built by hand, not by pixels.
Effects is not even IT. I can tolerate and even appreciate the old hand-made practical effects (unless it's stop-motion). However this movie is not good on a whole other level even.
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I own you.https://goo.gl/0avZjB
well, I absolutely love this film while I find Saving Private Ryan pretty boring, except the first and last 20 minutes
even equiped with a shovel and you couldn't dig this
Obvious troll.
shareI'm almost 43 and when I watched this as a kid I was practically bored to tears but when I watch it now I love it. The special effects look great for 1976/77. I can see why it's not for everybody but the nostalgia involved with it is incredible for me. It looks exactly like everything did when I was a kid so I love to watch it simply for that. It's a little funny to me the ones who can't appreciate it because it is a cool movie, especially for it's time.
shareIm close to your age and saw this when i was a kid and to say the effects are terrible honestly shows you have nothing between your ears.
This was 1977 nothing came close to what you saw with the clouds and giant ship so for you to say it was terrible means what exactly that either you have no taste or really are not very smart because for it to be terrible you must of had something to compare it too. So what sci fi film around that time had special effects that were good if these were terrible?
Opinions vary.
I saw this when it was first released at the cinema. I would have been 10, and I was glued to the screen from the opening credits until the mother-ship disappeared into the night sky.
A true classic, worthy of the accolade.
You can't palm off a second-rater on me. You gotta remember I was in the pink!
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Everyone thinks something is 'overrated' - a tuly meaningless word if ever there was one.
The special effects were state of the art of the time.
Then again, you probably fail to realize the film was made in 1976 and released in 1977 not 1997.
It's also possible you saw a wrong version. There are three of them floating around.
And if you think it's 'one of Spielberg's worst', try taking a look at 1941 or Hook sometime. Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a classical and classic film.
Never defend crap with 'It's just a movie'
http://www.youtube.com/user/BigGreenProds
I can't judge it positively only because of the special effects. Who cares? By that standard, many superhero movies would be great ones too. Which they are not.
This film has an uninteresting plot and more of all it has poor characters' development - in terms of "meaninglessness" of what they do, if they do something remarkable at all.
We see an everyday normal guy who lives an incredible event. And that's it. Even if one likes the style - that is, very unlikely dialogues and funny scenes - I really fail to see the substance behind this so-called masterpiece. And it's kind of funny that pretty much everyone that is praising the movie does this pointing at the special effects' greatness, as if they were a fundamental part in the plot, in the acting and in the general "purpose" of a story.
To each their own, but I suspect that for many people the "nostalgia effect" plays a really big role in rating this film.
Without getting into too much depth, or trying to change your opinion, the point of the story is fundamentally existential - it is about a man who is being driven by forces he has no way of understanding.
Think about Roy Neary. Over the course of the story, he drives away his family, and is willing to abandon absolutely everything in his life. Why? He doesn't know. That right there is the entire point: Neary has no idea why he is doing ANY of what he does. He simply knows it's something he 'has to do'. Pure existentialism. By the end of the film he is barely in control of his own mind any more. A desire has been implanted by outside forces, and all he knows is that he has to follow it, much like an ant or a worker bee.
You said you failed to see the 'substance'. I hope what I wrote above helps provide a bit of insight.
As for poor character development, if you don't see the arc of someone going from dedicated family man to a guy willing to completely abandon them - whether consciously or not - there isn't too much anyone can do about that.
Never defend crap with 'It's just a movie'
http://www.youtube.com/user/BigGreenProds
I think the above comment is the best one in this thread. I couldn't have put it better. It is indeed all about the existential journey of Roy Neary. An extraordinary incident occurs to him which is beyond his capacity to explain, save that he knows it's vitally important. From then on, he has a built-in imperative to find the answers, no matter what.
I get that some people may never have had an existential crisis or felt the pressing need to find answers, but I have, so I strongly identify with Roy and his journey.
^^^Robbmonster's post is one of the best things I've ever read about this movie.
CE3K is a cult film: people either love it or hate it. If you like or can relate to Roy Neary's journey of being controlled and manipulated by unknown forces, you probably like this movie. If you don't, you don't.