I know this is a dissenting view, but this is a film that just never resonated with me. It feels too procedural, the obsession scenes seem overblown, and the 'close encounter' is unsatisfying. I admired how it was a peaceful meeting of civilizations trying to communicate given how these things are usually depicted, but I'm not sure it jived with the terrorizing assault at the home earlier, and the lack of any astonishment or fear didn't feel authentic. Humans coming back to the Earth after thirty years, ah yes, to be expected, right this way for your debriefing. Meanwhile the idea of a man leaving without a single thought about his wife and small children was bound to make viewers wonder, and you could just see the wheels turning in Spielberg's mind when he had the guy kiss the other woman on their hike up the mountain, a ridiculous moment probably in there to create stepping stones to what he does next. The story is just not that good here, character motivations are often suspect, and with its padded runtime dominated by tedious terrestrial subplots and other little annoyances like product placement, it felt more hokey than spiritual. Watch Arrival (2016) instead.

Was SOOOOOO excited to see this as a kid, with my friends and big sister (who got us in, since it was a PG movie) and it was AMAZING!!! We lived in New Mexico and would stay out late trying to spot UFO's . Ha hahaha Loved Crazy Richard Dreyfuss. That ship reveal was mind boggling to all us kids. ;D Ahhhhh Good Times!