Denis Villenueve. A solid lineup. A different take on first contact. I loved Sicario but went in expecting a cerebral epic sci-fi.
That was a mistake.
Good things:
- Some really nice visual scenes
- Interesting aliens Calligraphy aliens!
- Clear theme of communication is omnipresent
- A neat score that might be awesome in a different movieBad things:
- The acting
- The lack of emotional reaction to ALIENS! The students asking to turn on the TV, all of the main characters
- Lack of useful characters Only the aliens and Louise actually did anything the entire movie.
- Supporting characters are very stupid in an attempt to foil the main character slightly
- Very clumsy exposition. Genre-typical news reports, voice-overs, dumb characters asking stupid questions.
- Very slow pacing. This worked in parts of Sicario, but didn't work in this movie because there was no tension. The main characters never seemed remotely threatened.
- Lousie showing up at school thinking everyone will be there after aliens arrive and there's a state of emergency
- Why can't you translate alien language like you can translate Farsi. This is a paraphrase but in the spirit of what Colonel Weber was saying.
- Useless love interest when the costars have no chemistry.
- Ultrasecure military base lets someone steal a ton of explosives and put it in an ALIEN SPACECRAFT without anyone noticing.
- Many unbelievable plot points
- Poor dialogue Let's make a baby - real quote
- Poor handling of the major plot points Looking through time seems to undermine the fact that the aliens need help. Why did one have to die if they could see the future? Why did only one die when they were right next to each other?
- Very heavy handed moral messaging that didn't align with the rest of the movie.
- Why couldn't Ian also see into the future as he studied the language, or any of the others?Overall extremely disappointing. I'm honestly surprised critics or general moviegoers like this. The premise was very good. It's a real shame the execution failed so miserably.
loading replies
@jared looking at your list it seems to me that you have missed or misunderstood some things but most importantly non linear time, from your comment
Poor handling of the major plot points Looking through time seems to undermine the fact that the aliens need help. Why did one have to die if they could see the future? Why did only one die when they were right next to each other?
This is what I took from it baring in mind I've only seen it once;
Giving humanity the ability to experience time non linearly is the absolute key to humans being able to help the aliens and doesn't undermine anything. It's that ability that shows us 'now' what we need to do to help them in 3000 years so that we can actually do it in the first place. They help us to help them by showing us what we do to help them. Its a paradox just like when Louise experiences talking to the Chinese General and then uses that information to get him to stand down. The aliens teach Louise the ability, or at least gives her everything she needs to learn (the information dump on the wall) which she gives in detail to the world through her book years later.
Why did Abbot (or Costello?) have to die? Because he did die. It happened. You seem to be confusing experiencing time non linearly with something analogous to time travel in that you can change the future. You can't and that conceit is pervasive through the film. He died because he did, just like Hannah. Knowing it can't change it. Why did only one die? Bad luck. How does someone survive anything from a car accident to an earthquake when the person next to them doesn't.
In terms of 'seeing the future' it doesn't make you omnipotent and all knowing. Non linear time puts in to question the notion of 'now' and our path is strewn with paradox particularly when 'now' is a moment that you are experiencing another point in time. You can't change the future but a paradox can be the cause what does happen for example the Chinese General
The alien who survived the blast was only aware of the event to come moments before it happened and knocked on the wall in an attempt to alert what was about to happen and then did a dump of knowledge before knocking them down the shaft and containing the blast. That alien didn't necessarily see the explosion as an event, he could have experienced a moment far ahead of that and it was the fact that the other alien died in the explosion is where he got the knowledge of the event. That is assuming the one that knocked is the one that survived, it could easily have been the one that died that knocked who potentially has always known that he died then. Just like Louise with Hannah. Paradox.
In terms of other things.
The 'useless love interest' was key to the understanding of everything for both Louise and the audience. They have 'no chemistry' because they aren't a love interest in the story and at no point linearly are they portrayed as one. It's not until well after the events of the aliens leaving does anything spark between them. Portraying them that way also keeps the reveal that he is the husband/father. For me the "Lets make a baby" line rings completely true, but I have children.
Why Ian couldn't view time like that? Louise is a linguist and as such grasping a more concise, though limited understanding. By the time the aliens leave she is only just wrapping her head around it. We are also shown that in Ians work he is still focusing heavily on equations. The interactions we see with Ian and the aliens, Ian is essentially Louise's prop i.e. "Ian walks"
Ok that's way more on that than I thought I was going to write and proof reading paradox discussions tends to make you go in circles so I won't and hope it makes sense. It wasn't intended as condescending so I hope it didn't come across that way.
Anyway, it's just a difference of opinion/interpretation.
I really enjoyed the film and it's sparked a lot of interesting discussions in my circles both positive and negative. One of my friends that I thought would absolutely love it fell asleep.
Maybe what I have written is exactly how you saw everything too but still didn't like it, I don't know.
Shout by stormsm
If you're looking for an action and "turn brain off now" film, just don't watch it and spare us the 6-7 hearts review.
I for one, am very tired from 500$m crap like Indi Day and Marvel's poop. So I was very excited to watch this one.
This one is more like Spielberg's Encounters from the Third Kind. It's more about the characters in the film and the amazing journey they go through. It's mostly about the human behavior that will make you think.
While it's not an End of the World aliens movie like Battle: Los Angeles, it still offers great amount of military presence and plenty of stuff that's going on.
So if you actually want to care about an intelligent movie and use your head - go. Otherwise, go watch an X men.
Highly recommended for some audience 10/10.
2-feb-2017 edit: Just came out on Bluray and I saw it again. Definitely keeping my rating.
Watching again at July-2023, excited towards Dune II : Excellent. Excellent film. So called plot-holes listed here are negligible when the overall product is really thoughtful and masterfully crafted.loading replies
@stormsm why is this the top rated review when it said almost nothing about the actual movie and is instead more focused on comparing it to, or streight up bashing, other movies.
To many errors in every Tarantino movie
loading replies
Which errors? It's not totally a fact based movie...
I don't really get what the big deal was with The Terminator. Perhaps it was revolutionary for its time and nobody had made a tense action thriller before (I have no idea whether this was actually the case), but watching it now, it's pretty ordinary with far, far too many plotholes and inconsistencies to really make it worthwhile.
loading replies
@aldy That Filminator is out there..it can't be bargained with, it can't be reasoned with, it doesn't feel pity or remorse or fear, and it ABSOLUTELY will not stop...EVER, until it leaves a shitty review
Shout by stormsm
If you're looking for an action and "turn brain off now" film, just don't watch it and spare us the 6-7 hearts review.
I for one, am very tired from 500$m crap like Indi Day and Marvel's poop. So I was very excited to watch this one.
This one is more like Spielberg's Encounters from the Third Kind. It's more about the characters in the film and the amazing journey they go through. It's mostly about the human behavior that will make you think.
While it's not an End of the World aliens movie like Battle: Los Angeles, it still offers great amount of military presence and plenty of stuff that's going on.
So if you actually want to care about an intelligent movie and use your head - go. Otherwise, go watch an X men.
Highly recommended for some audience 10/10.
2-feb-2017 edit: Just came out on Bluray and I saw it again. Definitely keeping my rating.
Watching again at July-2023, excited towards Dune II : Excellent. Excellent film. So called plot-holes listed here are negligible when the overall product is really thoughtful and masterfully crafted.loading replies
@stormsm i get it you dont have to be offensive towards other movies... why cant i like both x men and arrival. I dont think that there are movie categories for dumb people and for smarte people
So this piece of shit gets a higher rating then The hunger games: Mockingjay part 2?
loading replies
Mockingjay part 2 is terrible
..clicks play......ehhhhhhhhh....hmmmmm....stop... exit... Click Pornhub dot com ahhhhhhh better.
.squirt!!! The endloading replies
@pretty188 first, enter www.pornhub.com, next remove pants, 3rd enjoy
So this piece of shit gets a higher rating then The hunger games: Mockingjay part 2?
loading replies
Agreed, Mockingjay was a terrible movie.
Shout by swnndn
Edit: guess I didn't like the which came first, the chicken or egg story.
loading replies
So you didn't understand the time travel in this movie, it's pretty clear. Voting 1 just because you can't see it it's pretty dumb imho.
Pretty disappointed with this one, captain America has been my favourite of the marvel cast and I hoped they would have stuck more to the comic book version, instead they continue to attempt to make everything have rainbow and butterfly endings. Heres hoping thor gets things back on track.
loading replies
Rainbow endings?
Most of the avengers are fugitives and Ironman wants to kill Bucky.
What were you expecting them to kill of Cap even though Evans has 1 more movie on his contract?
Haha this movie is so unexpectedly bad, you think it's one kind of movie then it just does a hard 180 into insanity. I wish I didn't have the twist spoiled because I would of loved to have seen this unfold and had the big WTF moment.
loading replies
@nmahoney416 I didn't know what was going to happen, and up until Henry's death I didn't have a problem with the movie. But holy shit the second half of this is a dumpster fire. I was laughing out loud at several scenes. Props to Trevorrow for trying something risky but he fell on his face in spectacular fashion
The script and direction can be a little rough at times but an excellent cast and great dynamics between a family of characters made The Hollars an enjoyable watch. John Krasinski shows potential as director but he has some room for improvement. Richard Jenkins and Margo Martindale are both excellent.
loading replies
@randomacd4 Completely agree. With a script less filled with rom-com clichès this could have been a really good movie.
