left the cinema all confused and unhappy it's almost hilarious

Rating: 5/10 (20 February 2017)

*** This review contains spoilers ***
Saw it last night and left the cinema all confused and unhappy and in total disbelief the movie ended the way it did.
First part of the movie was very cool and exciting. You have your weird genius protagonist convincingly portrayed by the amazing Amy Adams. She's a linguistics professor who decides to continue her daily routine amidst what was happening in her world. She appears to have no friends --- she wound up alone in her campus the next day of the "arrival", with a puzzled look that no one else is around. Clearly, none of her colleagues or students texted her: GIRL, ALIENS ARE HERE. DO NOT GO TO SCHOOL. But that was just a fun and flippant observation from me and my sister so whatever.
When we saw the spacecraft, I remember myself being awed and extremely impressed. It looks to me like this giant metal leech --- very menacing and has this particular quiet sinister in it (much like real life leeches, of which I am very fearful of thus the mental effect of the spacecraft's shape to me). The movie also has one of the best shots, not only from the movie but from all the alien- invasion movies I've seen so far: that dramatic aerial shot of the wide American rural fields towards the spacecraft, made even more dramatic by those freaky rolling clouds and chilling af musical accompaniment.
The aliens look cool as well; I never thought tame giant squids could be potent replacement for the usual aggressive lizard-like aliens in movies. So everything was going great and exciting, our lead is able to befriend the aliens and has made them respond to her in their own language through this ink-like substance. So yey that's so cool they're so cute was mostly my reaction. HOWEVER as the story progressed and the characters are still trying to figure out the aliens' language a month after the initial back-and-forth communication, I felt that the movie was losing its charm swiftly thanks to Amy's character having to deal with her dead daughter's memories. At first we'd think they're only flashbacks and you somehow empathize with the mother's grief. But in the end it was revealed that they were actually memories from the future. Like girl, why didn't you freak out from these recurring freaky 'memories'? Aren't you supposed to call your mom or any friend that something this freaky is happening to you? Sheesh. And to think she would pass out almost every time she has these visions. Girl was def not freaked out about it. So that part of the story was really emotionally vexing for me and it was already taking away so much emphasis from the other themes that the movie has introduced and needs to address more such as learning the Heptapod's language, the different ways nations are dealing with the arrival, or even why Jeremy Renner's character, oh scratch that, all characters there were rendered almost useless.
And that conversation with the Chinese General part... we were definitely one of those who left the cinema pondering about it, clueless af it felt hilarious.
The reviews I saw for this film were almost polar opposites. You either deem it as extraordinary and mind-blowing or boring and unsatisfying. Well, if you have read this long review of mine in its entirety, you know where I stand.
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