Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Director's Cut) - 4K + Blu-ray

Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind isn’t just a science fiction film. It is a spiritual experience. In an era when alien visitation stories often defaulted to paranoia or destruction, Close Encounters dared to ask a more profound question: What if contact meant something beautiful? This 4K restoration of the 1977 classic is nothing short of breathtaking. Every frame of Vilmos Zsigmond’s luminous cinematography has been lovingly preserved. The inky black skies, the gentle wash of red over Devil’s Tower, and of course, the dazzling light show in the final act—all glow with a new vibrancy. The film has never looked or sounded better. It feels not just restored, but reborn. Richard Dreyfuss, as Roy Neary, gives one of the great everyman performances in American cinema. He doesn’t play a hero—he plays a man slowly unraveling in the face of something he doesn’t understand, yet must follow. His journey is both cosmic and deeply human. In the midst of mashed potatoes shaped like mountains and lights in the sky, Spielberg gives us a story about faith, obsession, and the longing for connection. There are moments in Close Encounters that play like dreams—unsettling, beautiful, otherworldly. Spielberg was only in his late 20s when he directed it, but already had the confidence of a seasoned storyteller. He paces the film like a symphony, building tension with a quiet crescendo until the final act explodes in light and music. The five-note motif—composed by John Williams—is as iconic as anything in cinema, simple yet haunting, like a greeting from another world. Unlike many sci-fi films, there is no villain here. The aliens are not monsters; they are mysteries. And Spielberg, to his credit, doesn’t overexplain them. He respects our imagination. What matters is not what they are, but what they mean to us. In the end, it’s about seeing the world—and the universe—with childlike awe. This 4K edition includes multiple cuts of the film, each with subtle differences. But no matter the version, the emotional truth remains the same. Few movies have captured the sublime the way this one has. It taps into something eternal—the yearning to know we’re not alone, and the courage it takes to seek that answer. Nearly 50 years later, Close Encounters of the Third Kind hasn’t aged—it has endured. And in this stunning 4K release, it stands taller than ever. Not just as a sci-fi classic, but as a rare cinematic hymn to wonder.

I have not seen this movie for years. I did get to see it at the show up on the big screen. Steven Spielberg is a master film maker and really knows how to make entertaining epic adventure stories come to life on the big screen. He also makes some pretty interesting sci-fi movies. Close Encounters is one of his best and he broke new ground in sfx with this one. His real genius is making his characters believable. Having read some of the negative reviews on the 4K release of this fine film I was a little apprehensive but I ordered it anyway to get my own take on the 4K version and I must say I had none of the issues that others were saying they were having. Some were complaining that the 4K version was too dark in places and too bright in others. I have a SAMSUNG 55" tv that I purchased back in late 2019. It wasn't until recently that I learned how to play with the controls to get the best picture. There are some things that I changed or got rid of completely that are just unnecessary. For instance, the sharpness needs to be set all the way to neutral as adding sharpness can cause blurriness to the image. I know that sounds counter intuitive but believe me that's how it works. I also changed the brightness controls down to -2 and the backlight to 35 on the "movie" setting and depending on the ambient light in the room I set the contrast enhancer to "off" for night time viewing and "low" for daytime. All these settings help to keep the washed out brightness and the darkness under control while maintaining the HDR resolution. I must say having seen the movie several times over the years from VHS to DVD and Blu-ray and now on 4K blu-ray it has never looked better. The details of the mother ship at the end are sharp and clear and the colors just pop off the screen. This disc has three versions. The original theater version, then the enhanced version where Roy goes inside the huge mother ship, and the directors version. All on one disc. The price is also a very good deal. I will probably be ordering E.T. in the very near future after seeing the excellent restoration of this classic from COLUMBIA and Steven Spielberg who I know is very proud of his work and the restoration of these film masterpieces.

I loved this movie when it came out when I was a kid. I had to get it for my media collection. I got the bluray version, not 4K. I don't think the 4K was out yet when I bought it, or maybe it was too expensive. I suppose if I were buying it now I'd get the 4K version (You have to have a 4K bluray player for that). I'm not going to review the movie. It's a classic and speaks for itself. I found the bluray transfer to be fantastic. I am playing it on a Sony 4K player as well, so I'm not sure if that affects things at all. It does have the original theatrical version of the movie, as well as the director's cut.

Perfect movie

First off, I don't know why others were having problems with the digital code; as another reviewer had instructed, use the web address given on the UltraViolet insert, which is sonypicutures.com/uvredeem. Now this could be because I do have an account registered with the sony pictures web site, but I logged in from the "uvredeem" page, enter the redemption number, and VOILA!. Not only was the entire 3 version set added to my library at the sony site, I logged into both my Vudu, and UltraViolet accounts, and the entire 3 version set showed up in both of those accounts as well! Again, it could be that I was registered at the sony picutures site, and that may have made all the difference in the world; but also, I have all accounts linked, so when I add a movie (which is most often at UltraViolet), within a few minutes of adding, the movie will show up in all accounts. With UV, though, it may be necessary to click the little question mark icon above your library, then click on the 'Refresh' link that shows in the dropdown, and at the point, all of your movies should be showing - if not, there is another issue I cannot advise you on....sorry. Now, onto my review! Firstly, I am watching on a Phillips 43" 4K UHD/w HDR TV, so am able to take full advantage of the high dynamic range capabilities built into this Anniversary Edition. Now, about the grain: it's there, yes, but in my opinion, it ADDS to the quality, and also reminds me of the age of the film, making me think 'wow, this is from 40 YEARS AGO, and looks like it could have just hit theaters TODAY'! Someone had said it 'distracts' them, but not me, I appreciate what the grain does for the film quality. Secondly, I watched about 15 minutes of the Special Edition, and was ASTOUNDED at what was done to this movie, to make it GREAT once more! Crystal clear (taking into account the grain, of course) picture, clear enough that I noticed something I hadn't before, and by watching it further, I have no doubt I will see other things I hadn't seen in previous versions of lesser quality. If the rest of this, as well as the other versions, is of the same quality I have seen in the first 15-20 minutes of watching, then this rating shall remain at 5 stars! OUTSTANDING JOB, Sony (and Steven Spielberg, as well as others who may have had a hand in bringing this Edition to us)! On a person note, I really wish I had known about the gift set before I had seen this, and jumped on it; the gift set includes this very Edition, as well as the other stuff that I would've liked to have. I may just order it (the gift set) anyway, and just keep it all wrapped up, as a collectors piece. Anyway, that's my review, and I definitely, HIGHLY recommend it!

Watched it last night on a calibrated OLED display. I thought this new transfer had grain THE SIZE OF CANNED HAMS. I believe this was a decision from the executives running Sony Pictures who are opposed to digital grain reduction. I understand their point, but I think there's a happy medium between sucking all the life out of a film vs. having way, way, way too much grain. A modest amount of grain throughout would have been fine. This film was extremely grainy, particularly in a lot of the desert shots and in the highlights. I found that very distracting and unnecessary, and I think the HDR brought this flaw out even worse. There was very nice, natural color throughout. Some occasional highlights I think were unnecessarily clipped, but it was mostly good use of HDR's dynamic range. The 4K detail was impeccable. I noticed things in this film I've never seen before, like the writing on the little pieces of paper inside Richard Dreyfus' truck, or being able to read the (mindless) text of newspaper headlines held to the camera. (The uncredited mastering was done by Sheri Eisenberg at Deluxe/Culver City, on the Sony lot.) Aside from the massive film grain: the typeface in the electronically-subtitled scenes looked like a cheap 1980's-era Vidifont (which I don't think they were going for). I would've used the same typeface used for the main & end titles (Handel Gothic). BTW, the end credits were completely generated in digital, which I know some purists object to, but they got the sizing and positioning perfect. The sound mix was a little too dynamic for me; we had to adjust the volume a few times for low-level dialogue -- but not drastically so. Some of the dialogue in loud shouting scenes were distorted, but I'm guessing they were distorted in the original 1976 production tracks. The music was flawless. It's a dated film but it has some brilliant, iconic moments. Note that all three theatrical versions of Close Encounters (original 1977, 1980 Special Edition, and Spielberg's revised 1997 re-edit) are there, and each has things the other does not. Most missed from the 1997 version: the famous line "they can run rings around the moon, but we're light years ahead of them on the highway." Can't believe they cut that line out. I almost wish we could've had the old TV version that cut everything together -- all the deleted scenes, the works -- to create roughly a 2:45 version.

Love Close encounters of the third kind The blu-Ray movie is wonderful!..picture real clear has subtitles..I wear hearing aids!

Great sci-fi classic Spielberg