Arrival: Review

[Firefly]

Didn't see it because it was too much like Contact which I loathed.

Another Earth was genuinely interesting on a scientific and human level.

And kind of a mind screw

[WillBrink]

This article covers a bunch of the plot twists and such if anyone is interested.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/...explained.html

Helpful in some areas, but still does not make it a great movie. I enjoy movies that make you think, but just being "deep" for the sake of it, is mental masturbation in my view. Blade Runner made you think while being a great movie...

[LoboTBL]

I dunno, it seems to me that if a species is advanced enough to travel across the cosmos; they've undoubtably had probes at least do a fly by and maybe even taken a look around at our planet. It also stands to reason that it would be they that had the ability to gain some understanding of our language and communicate effectively with us. Contact used the language of mathematics as the medium of translation which makes sense since it is generally believed to be a constant throughout the universe. I thought the concept behind Arrival was solid and it did raise some interesting ideas but I was left somewhat bewildered by the incoherent epilogue. I really couldn't figure out if it was Louise or her deceased daughter that was the one with the ability to see the future (or time as non linear). Her daughter was the one who made the drawing of her parents with a bird in a cage and the clay figure of a heptapod that her mother then remembered.

[WillBrink]

I dunno, it seems to me that if a species is advanced enough to travel across the cosmos; they've undoubtably had probes at least do a fly by and maybe even taken a look around at our planet. It also stands to reason that it would be they that had the ability to gain some understanding of our language and communicate effectively with us. Contact used the language of mathematics as the medium of translation which makes sense since it is generally believed to be a constant throughout the universe. I thought the concept behind Arrival was solid and it did raise some interesting ideas but I was left somewhat bewildered by the incoherent epilogue. I really couldn't figure out if it was Louise or her deceased daughter that was the one with the ability to see the future (or time as non linear). Her daughter was the one who made the drawing of her parents with a bird in a cage and the clay figure of a heptapod that her mother then remembered.

Good point. A species that can travel through both space and time would probably have that one figured out. When a movie tries too hard to be deep, it usually fails.

[MountainRaven]

I enjoyed the movie. Layers of philosophy and story with a heart-warming ending, sans the worthless cop-out, "It's all about faith," ending of Contact. Certainly one of the most interesting and surprising stories I've seen told in a non-linear fashion.

Good point. A species that can travel through both space and time would probably have that one figured out. When a movie tries too hard to be deep, it usually fails.

It wasn't about us communicating with them. It seems to me that they knew everything that we were saying - which is part of why it didn't take very long for the world's leading minds to learn how to communicate with them. It was about them teaching us to speak (or at least understand their spoken langauge), read, and write their language. They knew how to play Mahjong. When their verbal communication was played back to them, they'd play back human speech with a similar meaning. It's why the Chinese and American teams were so successful, once they'd found a method that they could work with.

The gift to mankind is their language and the resulting ability to think non-linearly. I mean, they even mention in the movie that learning another language can rewire the brain to think more like the culture that speaks that language (although the ability to end up in the future in one's thoughts is... new).

The heptopods aren't flashing Amy Adams's character forward in time, she is. Not intentionally, not at first. And the time travel is relegated to within her own mind. But she got the Chinese general's personal phone number from the Chinese general in the future. She learned what she said to the Chinese general to convince him of what she was experiencing. And then she was able to use that information in the present to contact the Chinese general and convince him not to attack the heptopods and that she was going to need him to explain it to her when they finally meet in person.

The dreams of her daughter were from her future, not her past. And the ability to think into the future would give humanity (all of humanity) the tools necessary to avoid all but the most inevitable conflicts and maneuver through a myriad of disasters and potential bad endings for humanity and ultimately put us in a position to assist the heptopods in three thousand years.

The only thing that really disappointed me about the movie was that no one explained that what happened with the British in India and the Germans in Rwanda was our history, not their history. Which I think is actually the largest mistake that the colonized made with their colonizers: In our history, we have never done x, therefore (lacking any knowledge of their history) we 'know' that they would never do x.

"We're dealing with an alien species of star-hopping seven-legged critters for whom gravity is a plaything, whose starships radiate nothing and have exterior shells of unknown chemical composition, and who communicate non-linearly, and about whose civilization we know nothing... and we're going to ascribe human motivations and human intentions to them? OK, then. I thought we were taking this first contact thing seriously."

[RetroRevolver77]

Did the girl from The Office get probed by the aliens?

[MountainRaven]

A short video on the use of language in Arrival:

[SteyrAUG]

I enjoyed the movie. Layers of philosophy and story with a heart-warming ending, sans the worthless cop-out, "It's all about faith," ending of Contact.

The main character had to accept the notion of "faith." Those in the know understood they recorded 18 hours of static in an event that lasted minutes. It was hardly a cop out ending.

[hotrodder636]

My wife and I watched this on Thursday. I had fairly high hopes as I really dig this type of movie. I was however disappointed and would not have given it such a high grade based on plot holes, character development (lack of).

I have a hard time making the jump from communicating "non-linearly", which looking at the aliens' written language, since it was in a circle with a starting point wasn't it linear just connected end to end, to time manipulation.

Interstellar and Contact's use of mathematics leaning towards advanced technology and civilization made more sense in reality and led to a more feasible plot. I have been a big fan of Contact and have always hoped someone would develop a follow on story based on the realization of "not only static but 18 hours of it".

Though not the greatest nor my favorite, the movie was entertaining which is after all the point of movie watching.

[Business_Casual]

The aliens sent her the Chinese General his wifes dying words to tell him so the world would step down? How did she even get his number?

It's non-linear - he shows her his phone number in the future and she calls him in the present.

kill it

Because of the non-linear "use weapon" response. They meant: We are here to ask you to use a weapon to protect us 3,000 years in the future. The Chinese thought they meant: We are here to use a weapon on you. Remember the concept of "you" discussion?

Anyway, I thought it was a UN propaganda piece. The 12 locations ring a bell? The communication room with all the nations on the screens? Predictive programming, in my opinion.