Denis Villeneuve's Sci-Fi Drama ARRIVAL (93% Rotten Tomatoes)

If you have seen ARRIVAL, how would you rate it?

  • Total voters
    101
not great. im struggling to give it a 6/10

This movie was not good. It could have actually been good but it wasnt. Giant squid ink aliens who can see the future but dont know how to communicate and we have to decipher their symbols. It didnt make any sense. Also why was so much emphasis put on China? The movie was bizzare and I was really disappointed. No idea how this has such good reviews, it was very mediocre. The only good idea was the symbols.
 
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Finally saw it. Really enjoyed. The Heptapods perception of time reminded me of Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughter House Five, where the aliens in that story also don't perceive time linearly but simultaneously, and the main character adopts this. .
 
This movie was overly pretentious.

I appreciate an intellectual flick and I wasn't expecting Independence Day 3 but this movie just never quite went anywhere.

A linguistics lesson with a few Pac Man looking life forms doesn't cut it for me. Lol
 
IndyCovaHart said:
This movie was overly pretentious.

I appreciate an intellectual flick and I wasn't expecting Independence Day 3 but this movie just never quite went anywhere.

A linguistics lesson with a few Pac Man looking life forms doesn't cut it for me. Lol
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You have a chip on your shoulder that has zero to do with any movie if you classify one as "pretentious"...My guess as a professional...You grew up poor and/or someone made you feel not smart. Or you're just not smart but smart enough to know it (which is smart).

Anyway, you don't get the whole hour, but it's still 125$ for my time.

The movie was clearly not perfect and did what it intended well.
 
AndersonStreet said:
not great. im struggling to give it a 6/10

This movie was not good. It could have actually been good but it wasnt. Giant squid ink aliens who can see the future but dont know how to communicate and we have to decipher their symbols. It didnt make any sense. Also why was so much emphasis put on China? The movie was bizzare and I was really disappointed. No idea how this has such good reviews, it was very mediocre. The only good idea was the symbols.
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The entire point was humans had to learn their language, because their language allowed us to see through time and come together as one species. They did this because they knew they'd need our help in the distant future and needed us to not kill ourselves.
 
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andnowweknow said:
You have a chip on your shoulder that has zero to do with any movie if you classify one as "pretentious"...My guess as a professional...You grew up poor and/or someone made you feel not smart. Or you're just not smart but smart enough to know it (which is smart).

Anyway, you don't get the whole hour, but it's still 125$ for my time.

The movie was clearly not perfect and did what it intended well.
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Is this the part where I slit my wrists or should I first catatonically sit in a corner while your sage wisdom forces me to reevaluate all which I thought was once real in my life.

I will be standing by for further instructions, Dr. Freud.
 
IndyCovaHart said:
Is this the part where I slit my wrists or should I first catatonically sit in a corner while your sage wisdom forces me to reevaluate all which I thought was once real in my life.

I will be standing by for further instructions, Dr. Freud.
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whoa...I'm no Freud, and the last thing I want is for you to slit your wrists or go catatonic. I just want you to understand that movies aren't pretentious.
 
andnowweknow said:
whoa...I'm no Freud, and the last thing I want is for you to slit your wrists or go catatonic. I just want you to understand that movies aren't pretentious.
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I beg to differ but yes directors and writers of movies can most certainly be pretentious.

And I'm not the only one who feels this way about Arrival.

But we can agree to disagree. I digress.
 
I too agree that Arrival was overhyped. It's like a lot of these films that win all these oscars but any normal person can't get through more then 15 minutes without wanting to turn it off.

I get all the subtle hints and shit but it still doesn't make for a compelling movie. You could of shortened Arrival to under an hour and still got the same point across imo.

maybe a 5/6 outta 10 for me.
 
Plutoburn said:
I enjoy this movie as well. It's a breath of fresh air to see a good sci-fi that does not rely on special effects to entertain the audience but with interesting story instead.

My minor nitpick is of all the country that ended up to being hostile to alien, China was depicted as being the one that does it. That just seem unlikely given that the Chinese culture heavily influenced by Confucianism often cite patience as being one of the more important virtues. Having worked here, I also noticed that the communication is also more nuanced which a lot of foreigner unfamiliar with the culture/language often perceive their way to be deceptive. I could see Putin's Russia being the first one especially if there are two UFOs in its territory.
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Hollywood only care about US Political Agenda. I liked the movie, but missed the last 30 mins because I felt asleep. So I'll watch again. But I liked what I saw.
 
IndyCovaHart said:
I beg to differ but yes directors and writers of movies can most certainly be pretentious.

And I'm not the only one who feels this way about Arrival.

But we can agree to disagree. I digress.
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Where was the air of superiority?
 
It was kind of a boring movie at times and while I thought the plot and overall ending was great (really enjoyed the language changes your thinking idea). All the stuff in between was just meh.
 
Interesting to see so many different opinions on this movie.

I thoroughly enjoyed it. I gave it a 9/10 but mostly because for the last few years, i've only watched action packed/superhero movies and other blockbusters, so when i do drift away from this genre, i'm satisfied.

Solid watch and highly recommended but i don't see a reason for watching it again.
 
I thought it was good but I felt the director somewhat mislead the audience. The central themes of linguistics and the theory of communication were fine, but what I take issue with is the premise that squid can build space ships. It's ridiculous. Any marine biologist worth his salt will tell you squid don't have the manual dexterity to use basic tools like screwdrivers. They would never be able to build something as complex as a spaceship.
 
Just got done watching it
Movie was hella dope til that stupid fuckin Chinese general dream sequence bullshit ending
Piss me off
Amy Adams is one fine muthafucka though
 
Just watched it recently. Started off great and then around halfway through it sort of slowly lost steam for me as I felt like the actions of the characters became more and more ridiculous.

Like, the whole sequence of "Oh, they said WEAPON! We need to BLOW THEM UP!" I thought it was so stupid and unbelievable.

There was a lot to like in the movie. But I felt like they had to force some sort of conflict where one didn't really fit.
 
Pliny Pete said:
Just got done watching it
Movie was hella dope til that stupid fuckin Chinese general dream sequence bullshit ending
Piss me off
Amy Adams is one fine muthafucka though
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I took it as not being a dream sequence. She was just experiencing the timelines concurrently.
 
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