Overall decent presentation, but completely illogical

Rating: 6/10 (7 October 2019)

The beginning of the Arrival is tense. It successfully evokes a fear of the unknown, emphasized by scenes shot with dark lighting, as well as beautiful cinematography. It's definitely an atmospheric, thought-provoking film with slow pacing - much like Denis Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049 in that regard. However, so many things don't make sense.
One of the biggest problems is how stupidly aggressive governments around the world act in response to the aliens' arrival. This behavior is primarily shown through the perspective of the American military, which feels as if humanity is on the verge of extinction. Do you really think an alien civilization intelligent enough to come all the way to Earth would wipe us out for sport or, as suggested by one intentionally insufferable character, convince us to kill each other (which we do already)?
They could've exterminated humanity long before we even knew what was coming, seeing as how they appeared out of nowhere and avoided initial detection. In particular, one scene with a rogue military unit blowing up a spacecraft (which defies the laws of physics - should give you an idea of how primitive humanity is by comparison) and killing one of the aliens is absolute nonsense. If there was any hope of fighting back, it already left the moment the aliens landed.
This is where things get extremely complicated. After the aliens teach humanity their language and cause their perception of time to become nonlinear, Arrival is unclear on what that actually entails. If the past, present, and future all happen at once, then the cause/effect relationship doesn't exist, which means nothing can exist in any state. The phone call paradox scene could not exist either because a time travel element would have to be introduced, which is not possible according to the possible perception of time explained above.
Furthermore, because the movie presents two perceived experiences of time (normal time and a learned, altered perception of time), logically one has to be the "true nature" of time. Both cannot be true. That leads me to the alternative, slightly more plausible option, in which case humanity becomes aware of time being predetermined after learning the alien's language. However, even if time was predetermined, the future still could not influence the past without a time travel element being introduced. This means, no matter which way you look at it, Arrival's story is impossible.
In addition, while the while the flashbacks (later revealed to be flashforwards) are interestingly woven into the plot as a part of the main character's personal mystery, her story is ultimately simple and flat. She decides to have sex with the scientist because she remembers the future they have together, she has a kid with him even though she knew she would die of a rare disease, and he agrees to be with her even though he knew she would not tell him that she knew the kid would die, so that means he knew what he didn't know before he did not know it.
If you're thinking, "Wait a minute. That doesn't make sense at all!", you're absolutely right. Throw some aliens into the plot and that's basically the entire story. There is no character development or romance to enhance it either - just a very simple plot, which makes you think way too hard, and a very beautiful presentation. Even if the movie did make sense, it would've been better with a deeper plot and some answers to the most profound questions it asks. Why do the aliens need help in 3,000 years? Where did they arrive from? Why do they need primitive humanity to save them if they're so advanced they can manipulate the laws of physics like gods? Alas, nothing is answered.
Expanding upon the initial tension, Arrival honestly would've been better as a horror film.