Arrival

2017 • 115 minute

Meer oor hierdie fliek

ARRIVAL is centered on the landing of alien crafts around the world, and the expert linguist (Adams), who is recruited by the military to determine whether they come in peace or are a threat. (c) 2017 XENOLINGUISTICS, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Graderings en resensies

This movie has 2 big positives: The actors do very well with a minimalist story, and the linguistic sleuthing is very interesting. Negatives, however, carry the day. Worst is the soundtrack: Blaringly loud non-music intended as "atmosphere" distracts from the acting and the dialogue, often completely drowning-out important conversations. This continues with some lovely violins at the end, drowning-out a conversation that may have explained what the heck had been going on with the lead character. I'll never know, as the directors, in their wisdom, chose to deny us the fallback of lip-reading by facing the actors AWAY from the camera. The second big negative is related: Something strange was going on to do with the mother, the daughter, and the sequence of events. They could have made that clear to viewers throughout, but they chose not to. Or they could have revealed it at the end, and perhaps did, if only there'd been a way to shut those violins up! This movie could have been good. In fact, by making a new edit and re-releasing it, it still can be. But as it is, it is a waste of an evening and may well stir up contention between family members while they try to thrash-out what just happened in their living room. To those reviewers who felt the need to insult those who did not enjoy it: Get over your artificially-inflated egos. I do not see many reviews wishing for more explosions and battles; I see reviews wishing for better story-telling. In my case, I just wish I could hear the story they WERE telling.

Arrival is a very slick, well acted and engaging scifi effort from Denis Villeneuve. The movie moves along at a reasonable pace with out too many surprises. Periodical flashbacks to Louise's personal story (played by Amy Adams) added some depth with great support from Jeremy Renner. I couldn't help feeling a little disappointed that the ramifications of the main plot reveal of the movie weren't explored nearly enough, leaving me wanting more. Still, an entertaining evening in.

A weak cup of tea. A smug, lifeless story lacking real conflict (beyond the usual military yelling) so expect little to see, atrophied irritating acting, laughable dialogue, recycled plot, terrible music. I was expecting something interesting and with depth but no. Transcription is below par, subtitles are good, sound dropout in a couple of places. Overall a waste of time and money. Would be probably rated G if not for one use of a swear word. It's a long way down from Incendies to here.