Unfortunately there are too few "serious" alien themed movies that don't involve massive explosions, CGI and fantastical scenes of armageddon. With more previously-classified information being released to the public in recent years, the topic of UFOs and "extraterrestrials" is becoming more mainstream and less the realm of those who like to sport tinfoil hats on the weekends. As such, Arrival would have been a wonderful opportunity to imagine and examine what it would be like if we made contact and tried to communicate with aliens who landed on our planet. But, instead, it totally misses the mark.
My biggest gripe is that the film lacks intelligence and complexity. It reduces humans to being brainless warmongers while aliens, who've presumably developed advanced technology to travel light years, to altruistic yet helpless, self-sacrificing pacifists. Nothing about this movie is believable! Even the discussion of linguistics totally lacks creativity or study for that matter. Let's not even bring up the topic of physics or lack thereof. Also, why is the US Army handling an event that would undoubtedly be in purview of the Air Force and why would a Colonel be calling all the shots for something of this magnitude?
Overall, the acting is subpar as well (I don't know anyone who'd believe Whittaker's horrible attempt at a Bostonian accent and why would anyone write it in the script for him?). Adams and Renner are very talented actors but neither fit the part, by a long shot. I'm afraid their chemistry is also very weak.
Finally, the need for an incredibly sad subplot involving of the illness and loss of the protagonist's daughter is also lost on me. The tragic imagery is clearly intended to evoke emotion but it just seems incredibly forced and out of place. Such serious cinematic themes deserve more depth.
In all, I think I'm being generous by giving this movie 4.5 stars.
My biggest gripe is that the film lacks intelligence and complexity. It reduces humans to being brainless warmongers while aliens, who've presumably developed advanced technology to travel light years, to altruistic yet helpless, self-sacrificing pacifists. Nothing about this movie is believable! Even the discussion of linguistics totally lacks creativity or study for that matter. Let's not even bring up the topic of physics or lack thereof. Also, why is the US Army handling an event that would undoubtedly be in purview of the Air Force and why would a Colonel be calling all the shots for something of this magnitude?
Overall, the acting is subpar as well (I don't know anyone who'd believe Whittaker's horrible attempt at a Bostonian accent and why would anyone write it in the script for him?). Adams and Renner are very talented actors but neither fit the part, by a long shot. I'm afraid their chemistry is also very weak.
Finally, the need for an incredibly sad subplot involving of the illness and loss of the protagonist's daughter is also lost on me. The tragic imagery is clearly intended to evoke emotion but it just seems incredibly forced and out of place. Such serious cinematic themes deserve more depth.
In all, I think I'm being generous by giving this movie 4.5 stars.