MPOV: Arrival

My rating: 3/5
IMDb rating: 8/10
Initial release: September 1, 2016
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Casts: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker, Michael Stuhlbarg, Tzi Ma
Category: A 2016 American mystery, science fiction film, based on the 1998 short story 'Story of your life' by Ted Chiang

Linguist Louise Banks's daughter Hannah dies in early adulthood from an incurable illness. While Louise lectures at university, extraterrestrial spacecraft appear at twelve locations across Earth. U.S. Army colonel Weber recruits Louise and physicist Ian Donnelly. He takes them to an army camp in Montana near one of the craft to find out why the aliens have come.

Aboard, Louise and Ian make contact with two seven-limbed aliens, whom they call "heptapods"; Ian nicknames them Abbott and Costello. They have a written language of complicated circular symbols. As Louise studies the language, she has visions of herself with Hannah, who asks about her absent father.

When Louise is able to ask why the aliens have come, they answer "offer weapon". Other sites make similar interpretations; China translates "use weapon", prompting them to break off communications, and other nations follow. Louise argues that the symbol interpreted as "weapon" might mean "tool", and that China is using a method of translation that leans toward competition.

The above taken from Wikipedia.

This movie started of really slow, nearly lull me to sleep. Though the pace was slow, it eventually peaked and engaged me until the end. Monotonous yet unexpected which differed from the norm. Definitely a movie which requires a full attention from the start to the end. Also make sure to watch when you are fully awake and not lethargic.

What I liked about it is 'no war', just 'languages'. It's earnest intention was unbelievable... the whole movie was peaceful... unlike most movies about aliens where war is the centre of attention. It is an interesting take on the alien species where many may find it uninteresting.