A great film but viewers should be cautious

Rating: 8/10 (11 February 2017)

Arrival will be noted as the film of the decade,, ending with a 'shocking twist' that is sure to leave many of the audience shocked. I thought that the film was great, with the exception of some loopholes that are ultimately inevitable in a film of this genre and theme. This film had a great emotional narrative running along the lines of the science fiction line. The acting were brilliant, from Amy Adams to Jeremy Renner all did a fantastic job complimenting each other. I thought that the deep humming music choice was great and set a intense and mysterious undertone.
In the first half of the film our main character is attempting to decipher alien language and it was a very intriguing but ambitious attempt from a movie to try and capture this, as well as very ambitious for the characters in the movie. It was a great insight into language and linguistics, however after one point of the film the gears shifts and now the film enters a position where they deal with time, and specifically how time is nonlinear. This is of course the climax of the film however it is also when the steady pacing of the film becomes quite wonky until eventually imploding into one giant release of sorts.
Upon understanding that the aliens language and thought of time is nonlinear Amy Adams' character starts to be able to see into the future and we understand that the opening scene of the film depicting her and her daughter were actually from the future. Now this is off putting in some ways, because if you really look into this idea you would find yourself asking the question "why doesn't she just immediately understand everything?" and of course the means in which her character stops the other countries to call off their attacks on the 'pods' is extremely sketchy and odd.
This film's slower paced first half definitely was an intriguing story while the second half does bring up some questions and plot holes. A friend of mine found this immensely off putting and decided that this completely ruins the film. However as a film I believe that the execution of such complex and theoretical ideas is a good one, the attempt to do so in a narrative fashion is a commendable one, as I have told this friend, "how else do you expect them to depict a story about nonlinear time within a medium that is one-wayed and linear. Perhaps we are just not ready to take in theories as such that are just not able to be fully grasped by the likes of human as of yet.
One thing that I anticipate will be of significance is this influx of positive reviews, this is because this film does a thing that many films are guilty for, they do a big twist ending with a mass implosion and resolution which masks the idea that this is a great film because of this 'wow factor'. In conclusion I would like to recommend this film but do be cautious in terms of falling into this trap and really think about the film as a whole rather than its surprise ending especially when viewing this particular film.