Steven Spielberg had a ‘New Coke’ moment in 1980, re-releasing his 1977 blockbuster CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND in a Special Edition that slightly trimmed the original cut, then added a final sequence taking us along with Richard Dreyfuss inside the Alien Mothership. Pretty much everyone hated it. At best a mistake in intention; at worst something leftover from a World’s Fair exhibit.commissioned from Disney. Spielberg took the hint and axed the sequence from subsequent editions. But he’s a stubborn guy, and, 46 years later, he’s still trying to get it right, now as the climax of this new Aliens Are Real/Aliens Are Here thriller.* The film and the man treated with kid gloves by critics as something of a last hurrah (print puff pieces downright painful), not that he doesn’t deserve the attention, and not that the film is a dud, but something’s definitely off. The basic story, and raise your hand when you recognize the idea, is that documented evidence of alien visitors long suppressed by a special military unit led by Colin Firth is heading toward international exposure by a break-off group led by Colman Domingo. Platonic couple Josh O’Connor (math whiz) and Emily Blunt (inexplicably speaking in Alien tongue) are earthly messengers on the run. Naturally, the film is well accomplished, perfectly judged pacing and plenty of close calls staged to a technical fare-thee-well. But about two reels in, it’s hard to miss that everybody involved thinks they’re making a suspense comedy . . . except Spielberg. Most noticeable when miscast Blunt goes into her speaking-in-alien-tongue routine. (She does international languages, too.) You keep expecting to hear a giggle of self-surprise burble out of her at her own unexplained ability after these exchanges. And not just any giggle. But the rumbling joyful snort and laugh that were a Goldie Hawn specialty. (Spielberg’s first leading film lady in THE SUGARLAND EXPRESS/’74 when she would have been just the right age for this. (https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-sugarland-express-1956.html) And it wouldn’t have altered the general tone of legit suspense, either. Think of all the big laughs Spielberg put over as part of the mix in JAWS, RAIDERS, JURASSIC, etc. Spielberg, always something of a square; it's a large part of his charm. Now pushing 80, has he become too square to get the joke that over half a century of Alien footage showing hundreds of witnesses hasn’t leaked from any lips in seven decades? (At 94, composer John Williams seems in on the joke when needed.) Perhaps Spielberg simply can’t go home again; or can’t without Goldie Hawn’s giggle.
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: *How stubborn? Counting GOONIES as a junior-league Indy pic and TINTIN as Indy français, Spielberg went to the Indy well seven times, only bringing up water twice. Then watched from the sidelines as the recent PADDINGTON BEAR in Peru pic filled the bucket.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: Note Spielberg pointlessly circling his subject like some kid just out of Film School. Then turning uselessly old-school Hollywood with fussy matching edits. Trying too hard?
DOUBLE-BILL: DISCLOSURE ends with a tease, a message to the world from an interplanetary friend that’s cut off before we get the translation. Odds are it’s the same speech Michael Rennie’s Alien gives at the end of THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL/’51.
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