A- An Alien encounter film that branches out from the standard paradigm

Rating: 9/10 (9 September 2017)

I thoroughly enjoyed this film from start to finish. It was refreshing to see Arrival take an alternative approach this film and focus the plot on translating and interpreting the aliens rather than the typical tropes of fighting or cohabiting with the aliens.
There's nothing worse than watching Science Fiction which fails to be scientifically feasible or accurate. While Arrival leaves a lot of the science to speculation, the link between the language and time linearity is both original and believable.
The acting from the cast in this film is excellent, especially from Amy Adams who does an amazing job of playing Louise.
My only qualm with Arrival would be the ending. Louise called General Shang and managed to get him to call off his attack on the aliens, resulting in everyone else ceasing attack. Louise manages this by knowing about the death of General Shang's wife, something she would not otherwise know without the help of the aliens. I personally feel that the lack of persuasion required by one American woman calling up the Chinese president on his confidential number was not believable and I expected more scepticism from Shang.