grabbed a fellow movie buff and went to see this last night...

Rating: 6/10 (19 November 2016)

Like I said, I'm a big movie-buff no doubt. I've seen about 4k films, and my sidekick for the night had seen about the same. We're always talking films, and when the wife stammered at the prospects of seeing "Arrival" for my birthday, I called-up Chris and we decided to grab a brew and catch a movie.
So I go in with pretty high expectations. Villeneuve had really caught my attention. From Incedies(8/10), to Prisoners(9/10), to Enemy(6.5-7/10), and Sicario 7.5-8/10.. I could easily say that Villeneuve is among the top 2-3 directors that I'm currently awaiting their next projects. I was giddy about him being attached to direct the new Blade Runner, and I went into the theater to see what all the hype is about(8.5imdb), and to get a look at Villeneuve's sci-fi ventures.
We were disappointed.
First, It's a heavy film. A very difficult watch. And while I actually dig the 'fill-in-the-holes' aspects of direction(on occasion) that don't feel the need to spoon-feed you everything, and I understand that this is also a characteristic of European directors, there is a point where it can become a distraction, and like the case here, end-up as a fairly empty shell, or an incomplete thought.
"Arrival" is thought provoking, but far from 'entertaining'. The film moves at a snails-pace, and fails to really connect any dots down the stretch. It makes me want to watch it again to see what else I can figure-out about what it all means, but it will be another difficult 2 hrs, and may not be the most fruitful adventure.
I'm no Albert Einstein, but I have scored above 120 on 3/4 official iq tests(119 on the other), and Chris is a smart guy too, but I also know that the movie community will flock to the ever-so-oft used, "they just don't 'get-it'" fall-back. Oh I get it, and I found it to be very boring. It definitely made me try to connect a lot of the dots, and in that aspect it was a success. But, in terms of overall entertainment, or me being able to figure out what was trying to be said late... like an f-16 zooming over my head. That's the way I feel about the current 8.5 rating too. Really? Eeek.
Amy Adams is good. The film looks great. There are a few really cool aspects in terms of Amy's interaction with the aliens, but past that... booooooring.
The fact that we thought it was boring doesn't make us stupid - it makes us honest. We listened to the films' deep thoughts concerning time- continuum and seeing into the future... the whole dejavu aspect is at the core of the sci-fi, intellectual "do you get it" here, but unlike say "interstellar", what lies in between is far less 'entertaining'.
We sat and watched the credits roll and talked about the film and about some of the ideas and concepts it dabbled-into in it's latter half, and none-of-it really made much sense, and the film just seemed so unconcerned-with it making sense, and even more so, keeping our attention.
This film is NOT for everyone. I expect it will receive mostly favor from the hardcore movie-buffs on websites like IMDb, but I think this score is destined for the mid-7's, even if it takes a while, and will forever be considered an avante garde piece. THis is NO "Close Encounters", that I can tell you unequivocally. It's not that cohesive, character-driven, or entertaining.
62/100
Probably not nearly as bad as I'm making it sound, but I(we) definitely left a little disappointed, and there was a collective audible gasp when the film ended. The kind you get when you see a film that dashed expectations. DId I mention it looks good? SOunds good too. Acting is solid across the board.
I wouldn't recommend this to the average-joe. It's pretty tough for a seasoned movie-buff, and I wonder about the legitimacy of a large part of the positive written reviews, especially since so many were written before release and didn't cite the festival or location in which it was viewed. All this coming from the guy who drew conclusions and read into the depths of a film like say, "Goodbye Dragon Inn". Very, very ambitious, and very, very deliberate. A tough watch!
Call me stupid - I'm sticking with 6/10. That rewatch won't be anytime soon. Dunno if this was a tune-up or just an artistic vision that just doesn't translate into a cookie-cutter mold. SOme people will praise it for that - personally found it to be lacking too much... character-depth.. cohesion... no defined climax.. meaning? A little dumbfounded this morning.