Interesting, but not fascinating

Rating: 7/10 (15 November 2016)

All the reviews said this was an amazing film about big ideas and concepts. Well, there's really only two ideas/concepts. There's the aliens and why they're here (pretty standard stuff at it's core) and then there's the the two leads (this one is a bit more interesting).
I really hoped to come away from the film with some things to mull over, but found that it was all pretty straightforward. The ideas were interesting, but not engrossing.
It's a much more minimalist style of sci-fi, which really works well. The sets are pretty sparse, the locations are kept to a minimum, and it manages to capture a few moments of reflection amongst the confusion of dealing with aliens.
The theory that language shapes how we think is an interesting one, and this film makes a great platform to explore that. This theory is still largely unsubstantiated, and while this film doesn't really challenge that, it does play along the same lines. Language is just a tool though, and it can't truly be isolated (from other factors such as culture, up-bringing etc) to the extent that the theory suggests. Otherwise all people who speak a particular language would see the world exactly the same way, which is clearly not true.
The ending feels a bit rushed, and there's a particular moment (when saving the world) that I felt was a bit lazy. It didn't fit in with the rest of the story.
Other reviewers will claim that the main character goes through a journey of self-discovery, but she really doesn't. Her character doesn't actually change at all during the film - this is the real indicator of whether there has been any self-discovery. There's no actual self-reflection, nor any real questioning of what makes us human (this isn't addressed at all). There's the usual fear of aliens etc, but it's presented in a flat two dimensional way.
Other reviews have crazy headlines like "Arrival is a stunning science fiction movie with deep implications for today", except, of course, it really doesn't have any implications for today, as it's a sci-fi film about things that will never (in the foreseeable future - pun intended) happen.
I think the real problem is that so many modern films are weak and rubbish that when a film with even a hint of something more profound come along, people go gaga over it.
It's okay, and it's interesting. It's a welcome change from the blandness of Marvel films, but it's also not a profound as the reviews claim.