Weak. Middling. Maybe my experience was tainted by the fact that the projector just fizzled out as soon as the last 15 minutes of the movie started. We got up to the very beginning of what I am sure was an ending montage of sorts & suddenly, darkness.

I legitimately thought for the first minute or so, just hearing the audio track in a dark theater, "dang Spielberg's going for something here" but no, it was the projection.

And to make matters worse, not a single theater employee bothered to walk in and be like "hey sorry"; they just let all 8 of us sit in the dark until I got up. Anyways I did eventually wind up tracking down the manager (thanks to the security guard who acted like I was insane for asking him 'hey where did all the theater employees go, can you radio the manager? the projection cut out on the movie during the last 15 minutes or so & I want to know if I need to come back tomorrow to get my refund') and securing my fellow theater comrades all refunds.

The 15 minutes I missed were not important. I heard 95% of it and it seemed to be the ending I assumed was going to happen 30 minutes into the film. There are a few scenes that have that Spielberg juice to them camera/editing wise, but other than that it is mainly just Emily Blunt carrying the show while a bunch of other characters come in and out. Maybe a spoiler but Emily Blunt has the power to become an Aaron Sorkin character verbally in the film. It is very funny each time.

There are a handful of scenes where Emily Blunt & Josh O'Connor just go at some cgi animals and every time I laughed. It happens like FOUR times.

Anyways message wise it is alright I guess if you're an older lib. Very "if we all just listen to eachother this place can be so much better & maybe we would deserve to be visited by aliens" but delivered in a way that kind of just makes you roll your eyes at the whole film. Russia & North Korea are mentioned in various throwaway lines as antagonists (a very small part of the plot hinges on the fact that the world is apparently very close to nuclear warfare but the whys are never really explained other than a scene or two where a TV mentions NK or Russia or like "escalating tensions").

Basically just an insignificant way to ensure the movie doesn't end in 5 minutes (since the entire plot hinges on the fact that they can't disclose the aliens to the public because tensions are hot worldwide and Josh O'Connor's religious GF is like "nooo don't post it baby people will lose their shit and start launching nukes" and doesn't change her mind until her adoptive nun mother goes " Humans aren't God's favorite creation. They're God's favorite creation on Earth" which yes, I did audibly laugh at in the theater.

The only benefit I got to seeing this movie was getting a refund because it means I basically got to see it for free in IMAX, or at least 2 hours and 30 minutes of it. I thought he would give us another Fablemans but it was basically like ET except the aliens aren't present in the majority of the film and instead it is Emily Blunt, as I said, carrying the entire film by doing the at various people and suddenly revealing their inner turmoil

It was shot beautifully though and I think all the cast did their jobs well. Just...a middling plot that feels like it would have been better served as a 1985 Direct to Video movie that you catch on some streaming service or pirate it while really high after you hear about its cult following.

2.5/5 I would not recommend seeing this in theaters unless it is a Discount Day/Matinee Showing and you really wanna hear John Williams' potential last score (which was good).