Arrival
Positive 👍
Oh, "Arrival"—the cinematic masterpiece that turns your brain inside out and smacks you with genius while you're too busy wiping tears from your confused, overwhelmed face. Denis Villeneuve directed this mind-bending, emotionally wrecking gem of a sci-fi film in 2016, and let me tell you, if you didn't leave the theater questioning everything you know about time, language, and goddamn human existence, you probably watched it wrong, you absolute melon.
Let's start with the premise: aliens land on Earth. Oh, what’s that? You think it’s just another "Oh no, here comes the big scary space guys to blow up our cities" kind of movie? You think this is Independence Day? Sit down, you walnut, because "Arrival" tells that story and then flips it on its head, throws in a quantum mechanic brain fuck, and then punches you in the face with deep, tear-jerking emotion. The aliens—the Heptapods—arrive not to destroy but to communicate. And here's where the brilliance begins. They’re not here for war, domination, or a laser-light show of explosions. They're here to mess with your very concept of time, because their language isn't just about communication—it’s a key to understanding how reality works.
This brings us to the core of the film: language. Amy Adams plays Dr. Louise Banks, a linguist brought in to decipher the aliens’ bizarre, inkblot-like language. This isn’t just some cute puzzle game, though—language here is everything. The way you speak, the way you structure your thoughts, can actually change your goddamn perception of time. We’re talking about the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis on steroids, people. The film posits that learning a language like the Heptapods' can literally alter your brain to see the future, and the past, simultaneously. Yeah, wrap your tiny head around that one. The non-linear time concept is the heart of the film's brilliance—Louise starts experiencing flashes of her future and past all at once. This isn’t just a gimmick; it’s the whole damn point! Time is a loop. Life is a loop. And the choices we make? Yeah, they’re set, but they’re also filled with profound meaning, regardless of whether we know the outcomes.
What really fucks you up (and in the best way possible) is how Villeneuve takes this idea and uses it to rip your heart out of your chest, stomp on it, and somehow still make you want to thank him. The emotional sucker-punch of the film comes when you realize that Louise's flashbacks of a sick daughter? Yeah, those aren’t flashbacks—they're flash-forwards. She’s seeing the future and knows her daughter will die a heartbreaking death. But does she change it? No. She chooses to live through all of that anyway. Because sometimes, life isn’t about avoiding pain, you whiny bastards—it's about accepting the joy and sorrow, knowing it’s all going to happen exactly as it should. The emotional weight here is gut-wrenching—you will not leave this movie unscathed. You might even question your whole dumb existence and how you approach your shitty life choices.
And let’s not forget the technical execution. The sound design, courtesy of Jóhann Jóhannsson’s haunting score, feels like a physical presence in the room—subtle but so powerful, it crawls under your skin. The cinematography? Roger Deakins wasn’t in charge here, but Bradford Young? He nails the eerie, misty atmosphere that makes the Heptapods' arrival feel like the most important, mysterious thing to ever happen on Earth. The alien ship design is minimalist, but imposing as hell. The Heptapods themselves are so damn weird and otherworldly that every time they're on screen, you can practically feel the mystery they represent.
Then there’s the theme of unity versus division. The entire world is on edge, ready to blow each other to bits, because of course humans are always one click away from turning everything into a shitstorm. But Louise? Louise transcends all that petty nonsense by doing what? Communicating. It’s a powerful metaphor for our current world, where countries are still too busy waving their dicks around to sit down and talk things out. Villeneuve doesn’t just give us a sci-fi thriller, he shoves in a very human, very relevant reminder: the only way to not destroy ourselves is to understand one another, to talk before we shoot.
So yeah, "Arrival" is brilliant because it’s everything. It’s science fiction that uses actual science, it’s an emotional rollercoaster that’ll leave you weeping like a baby, and it’s a brain-exploding exploration of language, time, and fate. And if you somehow didn’t get any of that, maybe you need to watch it again, but this time, pull your head out of your ass and pay attention.
Negative 👎
"Arrival" – the sci-fi movie that critics and fans alike won’t stop jizzing over like it’s the Holy Grail of intergalactic storytelling. Let me break it down for you, because this flick is overrated, and here’s why:
First off, the plot is about as convoluted as a fucking ball of yarn after a cat gets to it. The movie centres on Dr. Louise Banks (played by Amy Adams) who is a linguist brought in by the military to decode the language of aliens who’ve just parked their big-ass ships on Earth. Oh, but hold on! The story isn’t really about alien invasion – it’s about communication and time. Sounds profound, right? Except the film ends up wanking itself into a narrative corner by focusing on some pseudo-intellectual bullshit about non-linear time. Yeah, I get it, time isn't real, everything’s connected, yadda yadda. But in practice, this twist isn't clever – it's basically Inception with fewer explosions and more pretentious whispering.
And let’s talk about the pacing. Jesus H. Christ on a hoverboard, the pacing is as sluggish as a dying sloth in quicksand. The whole movie has this melancholic, sombre tone that makes you feel like you're being force-fed emotional weight. It’s like the filmmakers confused “slow” with “deep.” Don’t mistake the snail's pace for artistic genius; it’s just damn boring half the time. There are only so many slow, drawn-out scenes of people staring at alien symbols or the sky before you’re reaching for the remote, hoping to hit fast forward.
Now, onto the aliens. “Heptapods,” they’re called – seven-legged squid-like creatures that don’t actually DO much apart from farting out some inky circles, which are supposed to be their written language. And this is where the movie thinks it’s revolutionary: these aliens don’t speak in the same way we do! Holy shit, aliens who don’t speak English? Ground-breaking. The entire concept of language being the barrier to understanding is old news in sci-fi, but the movie treats it like it’s the fucking theory of relativity. It’s a nice idea, but the execution makes it seem like we’ve never considered this before.
But wait, there’s more bullshit to unpack! The movie’s grand reveal hinges on the idea that learning the alien language lets you experience time non-linearly. What in the actual hell? So, basically, you can see the future and the past once you learn this alien Rosetta Stone? The movie wants you to think it’s some mind-bending take on free will, but it’s really just a convoluted plot device to make Amy Adams look like a martyr in the end. And the whole thing with her daughter dying? It’s a cheap emotional manipulation tactic, pretending to have emotional depth when it’s just there to jerk a few tears out of you.
Oh, and don't even get me started on Jeremy Renner's character. He’s basically there to look confused and throw in some half-assed scientific exposition. He’s a physicist, but you wouldn't know because he spends more time acting like a sidekick with a crush than an actual brilliant mind. His romance with Amy Adams? Forced as hell. They’ve got less chemistry than a wet match in the desert.
So, why is “Arrival” overrated? Because everyone thinks it’s some philosophical masterpiece when, in reality, it’s a slow, bloated, and pretentious sci-fi film that confuses “thought-provoking” with “let’s make everything slower and sadder.” People rave about its cerebral take on the genre, but they’re too busy giving it intellectual handjobs to see that it’s really just another “aliens come to Earth” story with a nice visual wrapper and a frustratingly dull centre.
At the end of the day, if you strip away the veneer of its moody atmosphere, you’re left with a film that thinks it’s smarter than it is. It’s like the movie equivalent of that guy at a party who quotes Nietzsche to make you think he’s deep – but really, he just memorized a couple of passages without understanding the context. “Arrival” wants to be a high-concept game-changer, but it’s really just another overhyped flick hiding behind artsy bullshit.