Arrival is a Sci-Fi movie that very often will remind you of other Sci-Fi movies but somehow manage to maintain its own identity. The fans of the genre will enjoy both the references and the peculiarities of the film. Everyone else will enjoy a reasonably original product, given that you can't demand scientific accuracy from such a movie.
As usual, I will try to give you as many elements as possible to decide if the movie is worth seeing by remaining spoiler-free. Part of the discussion can't avoid spoilers and will be placed safely after the picture.
The dominant theme of the movie is the importance of communication and, more generally, of making the effort of understanding each other. The aliens make their appearance in a pacific fashion and immediately show that they want to talk. This defuses our aggressiveness and we start making the effort of understanding each other.
Nearly the entire movie is centered around the main character (Amy Adams), a linguist, and her attempts to understand their language in order to be able, one day, to ask them what is the purpose of your trip?
So, in short, it's a movie on how to become an intergalactic airport security guard.
The plot proceeds on this theme until, as we see in the trailer, things go sideways because we see them saying the word weapon and we just go bananas about it. In this intense part of the film, the other big theme takes over. It is true that, since the aliens appeared all over the planet, the various governments are cooperating. However, as one may expect, there is no full information disclosure and this lack of trust is leading to a global war.
More about these themes will be written in the spoiler section (after the picture)
Looking at the movie as a cinematographical product, it is globally well executed. The various arcs of tension are well displayed and it is not difficult to follow the plot. However, I should admit that going out of the theater I had the feeling that the movie was longer than 2 hours. It can thus look slightly slower than it should be mostly because, more sooner than later, the viewer figures out where it is going.
The actors' performances are convincing but I've perceived a couple of weaknesses. The first is the Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker, whose presence was pumped during the promotion of the film, because he has a very marginal role with, occasionally, very stupid lines. In other words, I was expecting more from him.
The second dark spot on the movie are the mentioned stupid lines. In a generally solid screenplay with peaks of deep dialogues, the tone is occasionally disrupted by very silly lines thrown from now and then. Someone in the theater will find them funny but it will be the same someone that laughs at the Nespresso's commercial.
In conclusion, it is a movie worth seeing with a good set of themes (some of them discussed above, others in the spoiler section) that may let you think about them for a bit when you leave the theater. I personally had the same feeling I had right after 1997 movie Contact, another product with some sloppy aspects that made it slow. To be more specific, I had the feeling that the book (because both movies are inspired by a book) would be a very nice read. With Contact I was right since it is not a masterpiece but rather a cornerstone of the genre. Maybe Stories of your Life, the book that inspired Arrival, will give a similar emotion.
I give you one more line to not accidental read what is next, from now onwards: Spoiler Alert.
The big theme that hits you once that you figure it out the main twist (and this happens fairly soon) is the value, even the existence, of free will. I actually enjoy this kind of pointless discussions, so here we go.
Essentially the aliens came to Earth to teach us their language because, as poorly explained in the movie, this knowledge will completely change our perception of time. In particular, we see how the main character is affected by that: she starts to remember the future. This not only destroys any concept of entropy that we currently have, but essentially reduce the future to a self-fulfilling prophecy. She saves the world by using a knowledge that she can acquire in a future where she saved the world in that specific way.
At the same time, she accepts her future, the birth of a child that will die too young, without making any effort to change it. Essentially, she is living her entire life, any single moment of it, at the same time. However, since she is not trying to change anything, she gives up any control on it, being a simple passenger of her own existence.
The movie addresses it as a gift (knowing there will be an end will make me appreciate every moment more), I just find such existence very sad and pointless for her. However, such knowledge apparently brought humankind to a fully cooperating, peaceful existence, suggesting that knowing how bad is going to end will stop us to screw it up. As if it ever worked before.
The main reason why I've enjoyed the film is that it made me think about this. On the other hand, in addressing its brightest spot, the movie falls short in motivating itself. This is the other reason why it reminded me of Contact. Also there we had aliens coming to us to give us their technology and also there the movie felt short in motivate such choice (the book did very well though). Since the question is essentially Why is this movie happening? I think that addressing it with the appropriate attention would have made it a very good product.
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