The Wheels Come Off

Rating: 4/10 (19 February 2017)

The movie takes two interesting ideas, the nonlinear nature of time and the relationship between linguistics and psychology, and creates a steaming pot of gobble-de-goop. There are loose ends, logical inconsistencies, and an irritating aura of pretentious blather that apparently is suppose to inspire a sense of shock and awe. It felt like the director was out of his depth and was simply incapable of pulling it all together in the end. Maybe he didn't care and we were suppose to be fascinated by the mystery of it all. But when the director himself doesn't seem to get it, with all due respect (I did like Sicario), you end up with a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury and signifying nothing. Predestination explored the time travel paradox. Ex Machina explored Artificial Intelligence and consciousness. Both films masterfully came together in the end and blew my mind. With Arrival, instead of OMG, it was WTF.