I don't see the big deal...

Rating: 4/10 (22 December 2016)

So many reviewers are heralding this movie and I'm not sure why. Amy Adams' performance was good, but I'd say she did just as good a job in "The Fighter" opposite Walberg. I'll give the film points for originality. At least the aliens didn't take on human form. I'm so tired of the Star Trek and Star Wars aliens that are just actors walking around in alien masks and gloves. Although to me the Arrival aliens looked like they just used someone's hands walking around in smoke. Seriously...their joints just look like knuckles. I liked the twist on their language and that the film showed deciphering it took some time and not just some lightning strike moment when the protagonist has a genius attack and suddenly knows how to speak to them. There were unexplained plot points, though. Why were the aliens returning in three thousand years? What was the gift they were leaving...that we understood their concept of time? Why was their relationship to Adams' character so personal? Whatever. I guess you have to be a real intellectual film student to get it. And what has Renner done to get to the forefront of the acting world? The Hurtlocker? The guy is deadpan. I didn't think it was the breakthrough movie of the year.