A lovely film which might only attract sci fi fans, but it has drawbacks

Rating: 5/10 (1 February 2017)

I loved Amy Adams, and she did not overact as she often does, she played this one to perfection. However, call me dumb but I gave this a 5 which is a big break from most people reviewing the film. Why? Well firstly, once again, no matter how lovely the soundtrack, it should NEVER drown out or distract from the dialogue, yet in this movie it did several times. The dialogue and the pictures are what carry the story and if you miss what they're saying you miss part of the story. It's become de rigeur for directors to supposedly enhance their films recently with great scores, but this trend of drowning out dialogue needs to stop because it is spoiling films.
Secondly, although a great story might always leave something to you to figure out, it should never leave out too much. For me Arrival left out quite a lot to the point that at first watching I have no idea of the timeline of the story. Did she have and lose her child before this alien occurrence? Did she have and lose her child after it? If she lost it afterwards she must have been seeing into the future when she was reflecting on times with her daughter during the same period she was helping to decode the aliens' language. What?
I'm left with feeling there were great parts of the story, with some great cinematography, and some excellent score, but the overall experience was ruined for me by the odd parts of the story that didn't make sense, and the drowning out of dialogue by violins. This could have been a great film, but wasn't.