Arrival

[Levin]

Just got back from the cinema. This is the best film I've seen this year. Amy Adams is brilliant in this Sci-Fi first contact film, ably supported by Jeremy Renner & Forest Whitaker.

Anyone else seen it?

[Hot Pepsi]

Arrival

I did. Loved it.

Sticks to a lot of standard tropes of "apparently peaceful aliens show up," but with some new wrinkles.

Only thing that seemed false was that a linguist owned a house that would probably go for $8 million, at least.

[Gerontophile]

Arrival

Possibly a "cunning linguist"?

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Arrival

I just went to see it this evening, on the recommendation of a close friend. I thought it was a very intelligent, fascinating, thought-provoking and powerful film. I loved the language/communication focus throughout. But it was very hard-core on the emotional front, kicking off with the tragic bereavement back-story and following up with those violin-rich flashbacks to the tender mother-daughter moments. I'm a flaky vulnerable chap as regards that sort of thing, and it felt like a punch in the stomach to be exposed to such emotionally gut-wrenching stuff, especially in a sci-fi film (i.e. when you're not expecting it when you go into the cinema). Maybe I need a trigger warning! (insert smiley)

[imp]

Arrival

I really loved the way this was paced, though it was too slow for frau imp. I was also really impressed by the communication scenes inside the spaceship - atmospheric, tense, completely absorbing, and definitely something you have to see on a big screen. All very timely given the arrival of the orange-haired abomination from another mental planet.

[San Bernardhinault]

Arrival

I really enjoyed the first half, nicely paced, very non-obvious, not heavy on the fancy CGI. Like a good old-school intelligent SF film.

But the second half got a bit heavy handed, I thought. The focus moved from the interesting ideas of language and communication, and more into fairly standard SF tropes. And the "pay off" at the end - the surprise ending, I suppose - had been clear for a while, but was layered on very, very thick, as if we were complete idiots, and lingered for way too long in the final scene.

[Hot Pepsi]

Arrival

I didn't see the "surprise" ending coming at all.

[Levin]

Arrival

I don't think it was meant to be a massive surprise ending. There was enough in there that hinted or foreshadowed that it it's just telling a story.

The one thing I wondered about was the identity of the Chinese main man? Why use a military man instead of the actual executive?

It may have laid on the explanation a bit thick at the end but it made an aesthetic sense and I think the film had earnt it if it wanted to not leave answers.

[San Bernardhinault]

Arrival

I think it was deliberately forshadowed that I don't think it was actually a surprise ending. I just thought the ending laid it all on a bit thick, and the final montagey scene just went on way too long. It felt like some studio executive demanded everything be made painfully, painfully obvious. When the rest of the film was mostly nicely non-obvious.

Spoilery stuff
[spoiler] I did think the whole "underlings not understanding what's going on and trying to sabotage it"; and "Chinese want to go to war to attack the peaceful aliens" were a little bit of obvious things to use. I was enjoying a Peaceful Aliens Come To Earth And We Don't Accidentally Try And Fight Them film[/spoiler]

[Jah Womble]

Arrival

Saw this on Monday. While I appreciated the focus on linguistics and communication as an interesting variation on the 'alien landing' theme, I found the whole movie rather claustrophobic and more than a little heavy-handed here and there. Probably a 'B-minus' in old-school speak.

I agree that the denouement itself was quite satisfying, if rather unnecessarily signposted.

[Ray de Galles]

Arrival

Count me as relatively underwhelmed by the film , at least in light of some of the hyperbolic reviews and huge praise it's received elsewhere.

It's atmospheric, enjoyable and affecting while it plays out but ultimately left me with a bit of a "Is that it?" feeling. The "surprise ending" isn't really one and is actually pretty blatantly drip-fed to you through the film. Having read the short story it's based on since watching it, that is a deliberate nod to the source material.

The performances, visuals and score are all very well done but the whole didn't have anything like the impact on me that it has on others.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Arrival

This piece may be of interest to those who enjoyed the film. It's about the use of linguistics. Major SPOILERS, I should add.

http://moviepilot.com/p/deciphering-the-science-and-linguistics-of-arrival/4150376

[Sam]

Arrival

Saw this last night (stuff like this comes down here a little later, for some reason - perhaps to take advantage of the fact the summer break here coincides with the start of awards season 'up north'). I liked it a lot, my girlfriend and her dad were underwhelmed.

[Vulgarian Visigoth]

Arrival

Hot Pepsi wrote: Only thing that seemed false was that a linguist owned a house that would probably go for $8 million, at least.

That's par for the course. Everyone in films and TV shows lives in a home beyond their apparent means. You could call it the Friends syndrome.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Arrival

Nicking that observation for a new thread idea VV!

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

I've only just seen this. I have to admit I didn't see the twist at the end coming at all and was very moved by it.

[Patrick Thistle]

I saw this a few months ago on DVD. I thought it was interesting and a bit different. I thought Amy Adams was a bit wooden in it. Her character could have been much more interesting if she had more than one facial expression.