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Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Summer of Spielberg: The Alien Trilogy


Part 3 of 8

Many films in the Steven Spielberg oeuvre have been about the relationship between man and the unknown. Sometimes the unknown has been of this Earth, and sometimes it is something more supernatural. However—whether it be in his directorial or producing work—one of Spielberg’s main fascinations has always been the existence of extraterrestrial life. More specifically, he explores the possibilities as to what might happen if these aliens ever decide to interact with us. Over the course of his career, Spielberg has directed three films which attack this subject in three very different ways. His first two films (Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T.) suggest that the aliens might be rather amicable, while his 2005 adaptation of H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds goes in the complete other direction. All three films are strong, but it’s obvious which of these films Spielberg’s heart was most invested in.


Close Encounters of the Third Kind came at an interesting time in Spielberg’s career, and by that I mean it was “early.” This is crucial, because he had yet to be completely engulfed by the mainstream Hollywood system, man. He was still a young, stupid and ambitious kid who wanted to make the best, most interesting films he could. He didn’t care much about money either, as Jaws had just become the most successful film in history. Because of this success, Columbia told Spielberg he could make any movie he wanted as his next project. (Seriously. They probably would have green lit a $50 million remake of Un Chien Andalou.) For Spielberg, his choice was rather simple. Since his career began, he had wanted to make a movie about UFOs, and the people who believe in them. The project had bounced around several screenwriters, but now he finally had the creative control to make exactly the film he wanted.

On its face, Close Encounters is anything but the blockbuster follow-up to Jaws that people expected. It is not an alien invasion movie; in fact, it’s hardly about the aliens at all. It’s about the people who have encountered them and the things they will do just to confirm they’re not crazy. It just happens that the story is told through a series of spooky alien contact sequences. As with many Spielberg films, the result is powerful because of the information it chooses to withhold. So long as you don’t watch the inferior Special Edition, the aliens are never revealed to us. That is because they don’t have to be. The quest for alien life presented in the film isn’t about simply knowing if there are other beings in the universe. It’s about a hope that there’s something more out there to be discovered.

To this day, what stands out about Close Encounters is just how fundamentally weird it is. Where most movies require at least one real, three-act plot, Close Encounters is more about the atmosphere than anything else. Often, Spielberg’s goal with this film was just to get to the next memorable shot. Yet, amazingly, it adds up to something truly spellbinding. Spielberg has said that he first had the idea for a film like Close Encounters when he watched a meteor shower in with his father as a child. He has also claimed that he wanted the film to have the mood of a two-hour rendition of the song “When You Wish Upon a Star.” Therein lies the film’s power; it is not about what is literally happening; it’s about the possibilities of what could be happening. To people like Richard Dreyfuss’ family-ditching protagonist, pondering what could be as a fascinating thing.


One could call any of Spielberg’s films one of the most influential of all time, but Close Encounters has seemed to influence the medium of television more than film. Many J.J. Abrams (and Abrams-esque) series over the past couple decades have focused more on creating mysteries than solving them, and that is clearly a mentality that Close Encounters helped create. A recent example would be the finale of Lost, which took the position that it doesn’t matter so much what happened over the course of the show. What mattered more is that it all did happen, and wasn’t it fun while it lasted? To some, this may be a disappointing conclusion, but in Close Encounters Spielberg was able to build it up to a satisfying finale. Sticking the landing seems to be something Abrams—and other modern-day Spielberg imitators—haven’t quite figured out. Just because Spielberg makes emotional moments seem effortless doesn’t mean that they are.

Speaking of emotional moments, there is E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, which in the hands of any other director could have seemed like a symphony of schmaltziness. But with Spielberg at the helm, the film that came out the other end proved to be one of his greatest triumphs. Watching this film is a mystifying experience, as it should never be half as good as it is. Every teardrop is earned, every triumph is cathartic, and every character feels absolutely genuine. There is no extra baggage to this story, and almost no subplots to get in the way of what the film is all about: a young boy and his friend from outer space. For the several days they know each other, they develop a bond closer than they could ever imagine. E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, like Jaws before it, eventually became the most successful film of all time… before it was dethroned by Titanic in 1997. This is because it has a universal appeal that few films could ever hope to match. It is a story both for everybody and about everybody.

When Elliott (Henry Thomas) and E.T. finally meet, they are two creatures who are in desperate need of acceptance and friendship. Just as E.T.’s spaceship left the planet without him, Elliott’s father has run away to Mexico with a woman who is not his mother. From the outside, Elliott’s home is just like all of the others in the midst of suburbia. Inside, there’s significantly more tension. Elliott’s mother is trying to cope with her loss, his brother (Robert MacNaughton) is slowly trying to become the family’s new paternal figure, and his sister (Drew Barrymore) isn’t entirely sure of everything that’s going on. Try as they might, Elliot’s family is not in a happy place right now. This is a family in crisis.

E.T. is pure in a way that few movies have ever been. Unlike many modern blockbusters, it is entirely devoid of cynicism, chaotic violence and crassness. If a kid who has grown up on Transformers sat down to watch it for the first time, they may not be sure what to make of it. (Is it really just a movie about a kid who takes care of an alien? Does anyone ever get shot?) I remember when my mother took me to see the 20th anniversary edition of the film back in 2002, and that was the first time I remember experiencing the film from front to back. As my current film-watching mind had not fully formed, I recall being surprised by its simplicity. Watching it again this past week, it felt like something the likes of which I had not seen released in theaters in a long, long time. Perhaps this is why I was willing to give a film like Super 8—flaws and all—a bit of a pass. Anyone that at least tries to recapture this magic is okay in my book. If there’s something the modern Hollywood landscape needs, it’s another movie like E.T.


Spielberg’s first two alien films function as responses to Hollywood convention. It is easier to make an exciting “aliens invade and kill us all” movie than it is to create an inspiring work about aliens of a more gentle kind. Spielberg has gone on the record as saying that he believes aliens would be peaceful if they ever contacted us. That makes it all the more mystifying that he would choose to create a modern adaptation of H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds. Where his past forays into alien contact have been awe-inspiring and emotional, War of the Worlds is a story that would ultimately go an infinitely more depressing route. Let’s face it: if aliens ever do decide to attack us, we’re screwed. The fact that they were able to travel across the universe just to start an extermination pretty much indicates that. Spielberg’s War of the Worlds well-captures that feeling of dread and inevitability, even if it seems out of place with his usual science fiction tendencies.

I’m of the opinion that War of the Worlds may be one of Spielberg’s most underrated films. Many people admit that the sequences in the film’s first two acts are good, but not many people realize how good. Yes, Tom Cruise is miscast in the role of New Jersey dock worker Ray Ferrier, but his performance is good enough that you’re able to suspend your disbelief. Where many Spielberg films look to entertain, this one actually wants to scare the crap out of you in more ways than one. It truly is an alien invasion film about our fear-crazed, post-9/11 world, and just how far people will go to survive as long as possible… even if they know they’re probably going to die.

This is dark stuff, made darker by its rather bleak view of humanity in a crisis situation. The characters in War of the Worlds aren’t looking to band together, Independence Day-style. Instead, they’re willing to abandon all compassion just to make it another day. One of the film’s most gut-wrenching sequences comes when Cruise and his children must drive through a crowded town with the knowledge they may have the only working vehicle in the country. The people around them desperately want a ride, and they’re willing to take control of the car by any means necessary. War of the Worlds believes that humans may contribute to society’s decline just as quickly as the aliens. Where some believed the extended sequences with survivalist Tim Robbins brought the film to a halt, I found them fascinating.


War of the Worlds steps on the dread pedal early in the film and never lets up until the admittedly anticlimactic finale. While I understand how the finale could be effective, it still clashes with the tone and themes of what came before. Even worse is the reveal that Cruise’s son—played by Justin Chatwin—survived the massive explosion he seemed to walk directly into. (And nary a scratch!) The film had been wonderfully bleak for its entirety, and the desire to be uplifting at the end is a complete miscalculation. Still, most of what came before is one of the better portraits I’ve seen of what it’d really be like if our world devolved into a wasteland of fear. That the attackers in the film are aliens is nearly irrelevant.

 In fact, the aliens in all three films are really meant to symbolize something greater. In Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the aliens and UFOs are about the desire for something more than our earthly existence. In E.T., the eponymous creature and Elliott help each other find renewed meaning the wake of abandonment. In War of the Worlds, the alien invasion is a catalyst which sends the world into chaos and despair. The goals of the three films could not be different, but it’s obvious that Spielberg feels more attached to the first two than War of the Worlds. Where Close Encounters and E.T. were incredibly personal projects, War of the Worlds feels a bit more like an assignment. That doesn’t mean the film isn’t good, it just lacks that extra magic which made the first two classics. Still, all three are thrilling illustrations of how we might react if aliens ever came down to Earth. Perhaps we’d embrace them, perhaps we’d seek to study them, or perhaps we’ll run from their terrifying death lasers. No matter the situation, chances are Spielberg has a movie about it. And a great one.

Next Week: Steven Spielberg’s various portraits of war, and the atrocities therein.

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