Delayed Reaction: Spielberg

The Pitch: Is it possible to fit all of Steven Spielberg's career into 3 hours?

A documentary chronicling the career of Steve Spielberg.

We probably don't give Spielberg the credit he deserves.

That's an odd thing to say, given that if you asked 10 people to name a director, at least half would give his name first. The man has an astonishing career with classics in each of the last 5 decades. He's made the highest grossing movie of all time twice (Jaws then E.T). He's worked in thrillers, fantasy, science fiction, war, history, capers, straight drama, comedy. He's made big movies, personal movies, fun movies, sad movies. There simply isn't a director with his catalog of movies that people have actually seen that are also widely respected. Kubrick never matched his box office success and Michael Bay doesn't get his critical respect. This is a man who made both Schindler's List and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Oh, and E.T.

It's understood that when Spielberg makes a new movie, it will be good. And that's where we take him for granted. I don't know that I've loved that many of his movies lately, but he's just had a four year run of Bridge of Spies, The BFG, The Post, and Ready Player One. Few directors make that many movies in that short of a time span. None make movies that are all that big. Not to mention that two of them were Best Picture nominees. For comparison, can you even name Woody Allen's last four movies? (The only other major director I can think of with that kind of output). And the crazy thing is, this is this is a comparatively weak run for Spielberg. The 70s had his breakout films, Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The 80s were filled with Indiana Jones films with E.T., The Color Purple, and Empire of the Sun sprinkled in. The 90s mixed Jurassic Park movies with powerhouse movies like Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan. Even the 00's had a lively mix of blockbusters (War of the Worlds, Minority Report), prestige (Munich), and fun detours (Catch Me If You Can, The Terminal).

I guess what I'm trying to say is that HBO's Spielberg documentary is a great reminder that there's only one Spielberg, and he's great. The doc was a little long to not be broken into chapters (Two installments like The Zen Diaries would've played more comfortably). It's light on criticism of Spielberg. It isn't perfect. It's a good watch though and serves as a nice survey of popular cinema over the last 40+ years.

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend