Review of Arrival (2016) by Deke P — 15 Mar 2017

Waay overrated. 'Thinking man's sci fi' B.S. What the 'thinking man' will be thinking is 'What the heck is this all about?" You'll have to 'google' it to read any cogent explanation in writing.

One of those movies with too many confusing 'flashbacks', and then 'flash forwards'.

Somehow flashing back to teaching her very young daughter (who has grown to teenage before dying of some disease) how to read and communicate is a key to doing same with the aliens.

Oh, and the aliens are like giant squid, or octopuses (pi?), with tentacle arms and starfish-like hands.

And as so often, they are 'misunderstood aliens', who apparently have come in peace.

And they don't communicate well, cuz they say 'weapon' when they mean gift. And this confuses the armies, that want to destroy them.

And they know the future, and we are to realize that time is not linear, but cyclical. That aspect of Eastern religions has served humanity so well.

Perhaps 'cerebral', but Some would say it was 'slow'.

And 'dark'. Many of the scenes were inexplicably too dark (why do so many moves do that?) The postscript doc said it was purposely 'monochromatic', with very little color.

Oh, and stay til the end, after the credits, for the promised short 'documentary' style interviews with actors and directors, all praising each other and the film.

All that being said, I confess that I myself enjoyed it and found it interesting, if not impenatrable.

So, I awarded '3 Stars to Arrival.

Not to be confused with 'ORVILLE', a saga of much earlier flight.

Nor to be confused with 'OROVILLE',.

ARRIVAL, arivaderci.

PS. listen to my voice memo notes I spoke into my ipod immediately after I left the theater.

Oh, and its not in3D, apparently. Unlike most sci-fi movies, it wouldn't have lent itself well to 3D.

Oh, and another question. Why show these giant 'rock-shaped', oval craft from only one view most all of the time, when you could just as well show the other side which revealed it to be convex shaped?