Clever, emotional, and patience-testing.

Rating: 7/10 (18 January 2017)

Arrival makes me want to read the book on which it's based. The story is very good. It's the classic trope where extra-terrestrials land publicly and first contact is made. You brace yourself for a disaster since army men put themselves in charge as usual (a major reason why, in real life, aliens avoid Earth like the measles.) And where many writers failed to conclude their own take in a fulfilling manner, Arrival delivers the goods with a clever, emotional, yet simple narrative that explains all what we saw and still leaves a lot to our imagination.
The film thus owes most to its story. It does complement it with great visuals, and decent acting. On the other hand, it does suffer from being unnecessarily slow. Your patience will be tested at times, and is required for you to enjoy your candy at the end. As I said, it makes me want to read the source material much more than it calls for a future rewatch.