Can you imagine meeting aliens for the first time? Wha?? That would be nuts! Yet in typical sci-fi fashion the only people privy to "meeting" the aliens are two professionals, because of course "dumb/average" people could never talk to aliens. There are A LOT of assumptions made in this movie, and I'm NOT saying I could've come up with better ways of explaining those assumptions, but there were several confusing moments in the movie that didn't seem necessary. The aliens themselves, their spaceship, their language, and what they wanted to communicate to humans were all good elements of the film. However, relying on two people (Amy and Jeremy) to save the world and decipher an entire unknown language in a matter of a few months while the world just waits (and doesn't do anything) is ridiculous. The time that is spent in this film on Amy's "memories" felt like a complete waste and really doesn't make sense. I'll be real. I need to watch this film again, but I'm not necessarily compelled to do so. I walk away liking this film, but not loving it like I thought I would based on friends/family feedback. Rent it and ponder about why would aliens come to earth and what do you think our response would be. Probably not this movie.
Arrival
Reviewed
Sat. 2/18/17
Arrival
If aliens come to earth, just call Amy Adams. No one else
Reviewed By: Steven Siwek
Viewing Environment:
DVD or Streaming >27in
Viewing Crew:
Myself
Times Watched:
1
Genre:
Science Fiction
Payment Method:
Rental/Redbox
Review:
Acting
The actors are forced to play into a theme that I think is good in theory ("what if aliens are actually good and are helping us unite?" unity, yeah!) but because of this pounding of the theme down our throats we're left with pretty limited acting, and Amy and Jeremy are put in a strange position of always having to be shocked yet they ALWAYS get it and guess it right. So annoying. It's like watching Bond never get shot as they guess the entire alien language.
Morality
The theme does make you feel good (human unity), and they remind you that in spite of our flaws what it means to be human.
Music
Seriously beautiful soundtrack. Really matched what they were going for.
Story
This story has some INGENIOUS moments and then some of the most canned/basic moments followed by sections where it really doesn't make sense.
Visuals
Beautiful. The visuals for the alien's language were VERY well done, and then in other ways it's pretty bland because it stays in one central location and the spaceship has essentially one element (large green screen lol).
Kernel Factor
My biggest problem with sci-fi movies always comes down to how few people end up saving the world, as if the rest of us, don't really care. This movie lives up to that stereotype and then goes one step further by having no accidents take place. Can you imagine us meeting aliens for the first time and literally nothing goes wrong? That's what happens here.
