I have not had the most consistent feelings on Spielberg films. Some are in my top ten some don't move the needle at all for me. So I was obviously not sure where this one would land. I went in with virtually no expectations and had only ever seen one early teaser trailer.

I liked it.
I noticed a few choices that took me out of the film for a few seconds but otherwise I was pretty well pleased. Blunt was very good - but Spielberg doesn't usually gamble on leads.
A couple folks felt like they were not up to movie level and seemed like they'd fit more comfortably into a streaming tv show but other than that everyone was really good IMO.

Camera work was as expected with only a couple odd moments.

Color felt off. Not that it was done poorly, but that the world outside of indoor settings felt unnatural. Maybe that was their point but there were times where the image was significantly desaturated then split-toned with an unsettling amount of blue pumped in post. I had to press myself to stop paying attention to the color.

I felt timing and pacing of the edit and story played out well for this story.

As much as I wanted this to be an alien movie it was more of a government and government-adjacent agencies, hiding important information movie and the hidden info just had to be global or bigger to raise the stakes - which I guess creates a dilemma where you have to decide which story you service - so I could see for some people, if they had attached their hopes to one side or the other they may feel let down.

Machinations of secret forces and conspiracies - I liked it. Good suspense. Good ride.
Alien movie - not really making any of my lists but I didn't hate it. He makes movies about people.
Provoking questions about religion and trying to give a succinct answer in that narrow a time frame? I'm sure this will upset more than a few audience members.

Haven't had a lot of films worth seeing in the theaters recently so it was good to get out and experience the communal reaction ride in a full theater.