Slightly Different SF But It's Not Necassarily Praise

Rating: 6/10 (25 December 2016)

Having watched DOCTOR WHO earlier today I'm always reminded what a unique effect both DW and STAR TREK have had on the human psyche . If nothing else both shows have made mainstream human thinking that science fiction is all about scary monsters and super creeps . To be fair the most diverse type of literature is science fiction and rarely concerns itself with sci-fi pulp fiction with humans beings stalked by horrible creatures on a remote outpost .
This film ARRIVAL uses the old cliché of spaceships landing on Earth where humanity finds itself wandering what the aliens agenda is but very quickly the audience find themselves watching a film where other action motivated clichés aren't forthcoming To be fair I knew in advance what I was getting - somewhat talkative science fiction where the story revolves around a mystery and the humans trying to unravel a mystery as to why the aliens have arrived and there's a problem in that unlike most movie aliens they don't speak Queens English .
You can see what the film is trying to do . It's not the aliens who are the danger to humanity but humanity itself . The narrative often cuts away to show us news reports as to how the human race react to the alien arrival and it's not pretty . One can't help thinking the producers might have had an eye on a Trump victory in the White House race . Little things like this might be behind the film's fairly good acclaim and word of mouth
That said the film concentrates on the communication problems between the unearthly visitors and the main protagonist .Unfortunately this isn't perhaps as compelling as it perhaps could have been . There's also a plot twist towards the end which raises more questions than answers and seems to be cynically included to set up a possible sequel . Make up your own minds if it deserves one