Arrival is a very interesting movie.. It's a solid movie with a lot of interesting ideas, concepts and messages and.. that's it, This is where the movie just kind of stops with me, Like don't get me wrong, It is a really thought out and well made sci-fi thriller about people trying to communicate with aliens and.. that's just kind of it.
And that wouldn't be such a big problem if people just stopped pretending that this movie is the greatest thing that has ever graced cinema since 2001: A Space Odyssey, Like seriously, dear and give this movie a rating lower than 7, Everybody in your comments will be like "Uhh sorry dude, wrong rating" "Your rating is too low" "It's okay dude, You don't know how to watch movies, Just say it" (talking about Letterboxd btw) and It's so darn frustrating everytime, but hey, how cares, Let's start with the good:
This movie being directed by Denis Villeneuve, One of the most beloved and well praised living directors rn, I wouldn't expect less than at least 9/10 directing skills and wow, did he delivere in this aspect, The way this movie looks and the way its shoot is basically the best thing about this movie, This movie literally only has like, three locations (Amy Adams' house, The felicity she works in and inside of the aliens' ship) and Denis Villeneuve somehow made every shot feels distinct and unique from each other, and that's something I really appreciate in this type of movies!
Other thing, I really love about this movie is how.. weirdly realistic it is, and I'm saying "weirdly" because when you think about a very big budget Hollywoody sci-fi blockbuster movie, You immediately think of big muscular dudes with big guns or a cool very charismatic space soldier Will Smith™ type character that is ready to DESTROY and KILL the aliens so he can save the whole universe and make their spaceship go BOOM!.. This movie has none of that.
This whole movie is just people trying to communicate with aliens, and I respect that, Even the around-the-world-news-footage™ cliché where they show us how every country reacted (which is probably one of the most annoying, overused sci-fi clichés btw) wasn't very bad in this movie, and was actually re-incorporated later in the movie in a smart way, It wasn't just "Oh look, everybody is scared of the aliens and nobody knows what do, This is very serious rn".
Now to the "controversial" part of the review, The acting was just.. fine, and IN MY OPINION, the worst thing about this movie, Especially Amy Adams, Like, she was okay, I guess, But her character and her performance in general really did nothing for me, and that's makes me incredibly sad because wow, People really love her performance, Like seriously some people over here seriously having mental breakdowns because she didn't get nominated for an Oscar because her acting was "just that good and emotional and impactful", and I'm just standing in the corner of the room like "No.. not really 😐"
I think I just felt like there was no actual reason for us to like her character, Expect for the fact that she's being played by Amy Adams. Everybody loves Amy Adams right, RIGHT?! And she's a language teacher and she has a daughter that she likes very much and she's smart and stuff... OKAY, AND??!?!
The movie literally tells us to care about her, just because she's the main character, Lory or whatever her name was really remind me of Brad Pitt's character in World War Z (Anyone remembers that mess lol), A main character that you should care about just because they love their family very much.. Like okay, you're not especially I like my family too, Can I be the next hero of a big Hollywood blockbuster movie, No, I'm not a famous and hot actor, Oh well, too bad I guess.
The music was really good, The editing was pretty great also, It's all good above average stuff, Even though, There is one really random and weird lil tidbit I noticed while watching the movie, There's like 300 scenes that just cut to a clip of Amy Adams sleeping/trying to sleep/waking up from a nap/taking a nap and I will not gonna lie, it is the funniest weirdest little thing, You're gonna think that the director has a sleeping fetish or something, It's honestly surreal.
The pacing was pretty alright, The movie is really slow paced but I didn't really mind that, I mean we're trying to communicate with aliens after all, It will not be an easy task so I appreciate the movie making us feel the time our characters is spending trying to get this miserable task over with, I think the pacing become a problem with the beginning of the third act, Things literally just happens, For most of the time, All I was saying in my head was like "Oh, I guess she can do that now.." "Oh, Is this what we're doing right now.. Okay" "Oh, The aliens are doing this now" So yeah, It was alright but it could have been a lot better and more natural I'm my opinion.
So to end this pretty messy and kind of all over the place review, Arrival is a really well made, though out sci-fi thriller that has a lot of interesting ideas, interesting concepts and.. that's it,
This movie didn't change my life, It didn't make me change the way I look at life, I don't think I will watch this again unfortunately, Amy Adams absolutely do not deserve all the praise she's getting for this movie (I sound like such an asshole, Sorry), It is (in my opinion) just a good movie and that's it.
Thanks for reading.