"As long as they stay, we have to stay."

Rating: 6/10 (1 December 2016)

Could it be that the less sense a movie makes, the better it's ranking here on IMDb? As I write this, the film is #93 on IMDb's Top #250. I've already ranted enough in other reviews to explain my position on this regarding new releases, so I won't bore you with it here. My main problem with the picture is that there doesn't seem to be an inherent logic to the story line. Linguist Louise Brooks (Amy Adams) makes significant inroads into understanding an alien language configured in Rorschach-like circles, and as the viewer, we're never really privy to how she managed to do it. The non-linear time element introduced into the story is quite bewildering as well, highlighted by Adams' character placing a phone call to a Chinese general AFTER he showed her his phone number, some time in the FUTURE! There are going to be those who hail this movie as brilliant film making, but I have to tell you, if I have to have it explained to me, then it doesn't pass a basic test for telling a good story. Namely a picture with a solid beginning, middle and end.