Skip this movie and listen to the film score soundtrack instead.

Rating: 3/10 (3 April 2019)

I like Amy Adams as an actress she is good at her job, her movies are not brilliant in my opinion and Arrival is no different.
I give this movie a 3/10 rating because there are some positive elements, the film score (half of it) is very good, the score by Johann Johannsson is different, it's experimental, catchy and unique, I have yet to become bored of the film score as I listen to it a lot on Spotify, not all of it is great, but there are some tracks that I love.
The other positive elements to this film are the decent performances and the atmosphere, this flick is very open, atmospheric and spacious, example the house that belongs to Amy Adam's character is very modern and is set in the middle of nowhere, the rest of the flick has wide open spaces, I like this type of cinematography. Cinematographer Bradford Young and Director Denis Villeneuve did a great job with that.
The story line of this alien flick is different than many other alien movies, Arrival is very serious and makes it clear that this is not one of those Sci-Fi comedies, Arrival is definitely a Sci-Fi Drama Thriller.
As an animal lover, I did not like the scenario with the bird in the cage, there are also many other things wrong with this movie. Many people may not agree with me, and that's their right, but I will still stand by my opinions.
As a Christian, I believe in the Bible and the Bible makes it clear that there are only 2 kingdoms, God's Kingdom and Satan's Kingdom. You could say "It's just a movie", but as a strong in faith Christian, my faith can't help but intervene when I watch some secular movies.
We see things from Linguist Louise Banks point of view. The US Army needs her to communicate with these Aliens that have just landed on earth, as the film goes on we see that these Aliens give her all sorts of information. Like I said, there are only 2 Kingdoms, if this were a real life situation, Louise would be getting her information from demons, clearly these Aliens are not God, so there's only 1 other option. I personally don't believe in Aliens, I do however find the topic of aliens interesting at times, and I recommend a Christian site that talks about secular topics like this, the site is "Answers In Genesis", they offer a biblical perspective on secular issues and topics.
Now, these "Aliens" tell Louise Banks of her future about her daughter Hannah who will have an incurable disease and will die before she even becomes a teenager. We find out the sort of plot-twist that those scenes with her and the daughter were not flashbacks, but were actually flash-forwards.
As the film goes on, a character named Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner) expresses his love for Banks. Louise agrees to have a child with Donnelly despite knowing what will happen to the daughter.
I can see why this film has her decide this, the short amount of time to have and to show love, but this is not good enough of an excuse, Louise is being very selfish here, she knows that Hannah will die and with the information that Louise gets way beforehand she still agrees to have the child, the daughter will end up suffering and dying long before adulthood, how is that fair to the kid?! Also, Louise did not tell Donnelly the imperative information, she lied to him and that is also selfish, Donnelly leaving them wasn't right either, him leaving them was not nice at all and was so very wrong, but Louise Banks could've prevented all of that heartache, the best thing that she could have done is to not agree to have a kid with Donnelly and spare that poor child the pain.
One could say "But every human will eventually have to lose a loved one", yes but if you're given information like that, then you have to not be selfish by thinking about yourself and think about the situation of the person that would suffer an incurable disease, if you could prevent a loved one from suffering - you would, so in Louise's situation she could have prevented the pain of another human being, plus think about the emotional trauma the child would experience, she probably desired to one day go to college, e.c.t., and all of it will be stripped away from her.
This flick cannot be compared to the reality of humanity, humans are not going to get information from Aliens because Aliens do not exist, Scientists have spent millions of money for decades and decades trying to find alien life and there isn't any.
This movie is just what it says it is - which is nothing but Science Fiction.
The Bible never mentions aliens, there are no purpose for aliens, the topic of aliens is just a distraction from Satan's Kingdom to distract people from turning to God.
Arrival is just not a very good film, like I recommended earlier - listen to the Score on Spotify instead.