Stylish but thin

Rating: 3/10 (5 December 2016)

*SPOILERS*
I enjoyed Arrival. I thought it was well-made, with good acting and really nice visuals. The plot was interesting, with a couple of surprises. The final twist was artfully done; I bet not many people saw this coming. The downsides of the movie are slow pacing at some points, uninteresting characters aside from Amy Goodman's, and a really unbelievable view of science. Within just a few weeks, they go from zero to the ability to communicate complex ideas---even more, the Amy Goodman's brain is literally re-wired by the process? No way. I don't buy this, and I certainly don't buy the final twist about precognition. Of course science fiction depends on suspension of disbelief, but the suspension comes out of agreement between the director and the viewer; I felt the director hadn't earned my belief in his idea by the end of the movie.
For me this movie was visually and thematically similar to Interstellar, but Interstellar was more successful. My evaluation of this move is "nice try".