Review of Arrival: I did not like it, SamIAm
[This review will contain spoilers for the movie, although so little actually happens in it, 'spoilers' is a relative term in this case.]
I had high hopes and expectations for Arrival. Very high. I read glowing reviews, talking about how smart it was, how science-y ... and yet despite a mention here and there of actual scientific concepts, it was still just an action movie ... or a relationship movie, or a scifi movie, or a horror movie--it couldn't decide what it was, and that was part of the problem.
You know how Joey eats the trifle with meat and veggies in it and likes it, saying "Custard? Good! Jam? Good! Beef? GOOD!" Well, I'll stick to that reviewing method here. ;->
If I see any of these things in a movie, I'm generally happy about it:
- linguistics: good!
- scifi: good!
- a hyperrealistic vision of what it would be like if humanity were really visited by aliens (at least at the beginning--I felt it became less realistic as it progressed), from a scientific/military/sociological perspective: good!
- relatively realistic depiction of an alien lifeform: good
- a brilliant underdog character chosen for an exciting mission: good!
- a circular 'frame' informed/explained by the events in the heart of the movie: good!
- a sense of the aloneness of the main character reflected in every shot: good
- what appears to be memories turning out to be visions of the future: good!
- a new idea of time and how it functions: good!
- symmetry in both concept and execution: good!
- real events as metaphor: good!
- themes revolving around the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis: GOOD!
- Renner's character being relegated to the classic 'love interest' role: hilarious! Scientifically, he contributed a little bit of jack and a whole lot of squat, merely there to support the main character, set her up to deliver good lines, be her love interest, and be a sperm donor. (Also, "Do you want to make a baby?" Ugh. No.)
-jamming all these themes and ideas into a single movie: bad. It only serves to dilute every one of them, or in some cases, some of the themes contradict others.
To wit (HERE BE SPOILERS): once the main action involving aliens is over and it's revealed that what appeared to be memories from her past are actually 'memories' of her future and we get a clear montage of her future with her husband and daughter (now populated with love and family, and filmed more warmly, not so austerely), this whole 'alien visit' business seems to have faded into their mutual past like some strange dream, never to be mentioned again.
The whole purpose of the aliens within the script alters from 'HOLY SHIT WE ARE SAVING THE WORLD' to 'hm, I already know my whole future but at least I saved my marriage: THANKS, ALIENS, I WAS GOING TO BE SO LONELY.' The aliens begin to seem like merely a metaphor themselves, for a crucible that allowed this single character to bridge the divide between her and other humans, which renders the alien plot essentially irrelevant. Surely something less dire than a fear that aliens are about to destroy the planet could have been used to help this woman connect and communicate with others? Or at least the alien visit could have been treated as more than a personal growth experience for our main character? Or ... but that's the problem in a nutshell: there are well over a dozen main themes in this movie, which means really, there are a dozen vague ideas, none of which is ever fully realized.
Also, my writing teacher once said something that's always stuck with me, which was, "It's good [in a story] to wonder why something happened. It's not good to wonder, 'what happened?'" Between the vagueness of the script and the incredibly dark filming (we had to turn off all the lights in the room to be able to see certain scenes at all), the viewer is all too often left wondering what happened.
Basically, this is a very busy movie (although oddly boring--during that endless half hour or so when they were gearing up to go into the alien vessel for the first time and then finally got their first glimpse of the aliens, I was thinking the whole movie could have been a short and saved us all some time) that attempts to accomplish everything in its 2-hour runtime and ends up just kinda telling a rambling story.
Can we talk about the alien ship design? It looks like rock, but it has perfectly rectangular 'doors' that appear in its surface! How ... unimaginative and unrealistic! When it's done doing its vaguely threatening moving-horizontal thing (to force humanity to learn to communicate with other humans better? how thoughtful of them to traverse the galaxy just to teach us this important lesson), it simply disappears! How ... arty, and inexplicable!
And just, gaiz, seriously, come on, defining a female main character around losing a child: CAN WE PLEASE GET A FEMALE-LED SCIFI MOVIE THAT DOESN'T SHORTHAND CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT THIS WAY??
Ahem. So yeah, in sum: LOTS of potential, kinda spends the whole running time trying to knit something together while it's constantly falling apart. What the hell, Hollywood--I haven't seen a good, solid scifi movie in what seems like ages! Passengers looked really good, too, but it got far worse reviews than Arrival, so I'm not hopeful (though I do want to see it), and though people were apeshit over Gravity, I wasn't that wild about that one, either. GIMME MY GOOD SCIFI FIX!! Because I REALLLLY wanted to like Arrival and alas, just couldn't. I have, however, heard great things about The Expanse, so I think I'ma try that one next.
I had high hopes and expectations for Arrival. Very high. I read glowing reviews, talking about how smart it was, how science-y ... and yet despite a mention here and there of actual scientific concepts, it was still just an action movie ... or a relationship movie, or a scifi movie, or a horror movie--it couldn't decide what it was, and that was part of the problem.
You know how Joey eats the trifle with meat and veggies in it and likes it, saying "Custard? Good! Jam? Good! Beef? GOOD!" Well, I'll stick to that reviewing method here. ;->
If I see any of these things in a movie, I'm generally happy about it:
- linguistics: good!
- scifi: good!
- a hyperrealistic vision of what it would be like if humanity were really visited by aliens (at least at the beginning--I felt it became less realistic as it progressed), from a scientific/military/sociological perspective: good!
- relatively realistic depiction of an alien lifeform: good
- a brilliant underdog character chosen for an exciting mission: good!
- a circular 'frame' informed/explained by the events in the heart of the movie: good!
- a sense of the aloneness of the main character reflected in every shot: good
- what appears to be memories turning out to be visions of the future: good!
- a new idea of time and how it functions: good!
- symmetry in both concept and execution: good!
- real events as metaphor: good!
- themes revolving around the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis: GOOD!
- Renner's character being relegated to the classic 'love interest' role: hilarious! Scientifically, he contributed a little bit of jack and a whole lot of squat, merely there to support the main character, set her up to deliver good lines, be her love interest, and be a sperm donor. (Also, "Do you want to make a baby?" Ugh. No.)
-jamming all these themes and ideas into a single movie: bad. It only serves to dilute every one of them, or in some cases, some of the themes contradict others.
To wit (HERE BE SPOILERS): once the main action involving aliens is over and it's revealed that what appeared to be memories from her past are actually 'memories' of her future and we get a clear montage of her future with her husband and daughter (now populated with love and family, and filmed more warmly, not so austerely), this whole 'alien visit' business seems to have faded into their mutual past like some strange dream, never to be mentioned again.
The whole purpose of the aliens within the script alters from 'HOLY SHIT WE ARE SAVING THE WORLD' to 'hm, I already know my whole future but at least I saved my marriage: THANKS, ALIENS, I WAS GOING TO BE SO LONELY.' The aliens begin to seem like merely a metaphor themselves, for a crucible that allowed this single character to bridge the divide between her and other humans, which renders the alien plot essentially irrelevant. Surely something less dire than a fear that aliens are about to destroy the planet could have been used to help this woman connect and communicate with others? Or at least the alien visit could have been treated as more than a personal growth experience for our main character? Or ... but that's the problem in a nutshell: there are well over a dozen main themes in this movie, which means really, there are a dozen vague ideas, none of which is ever fully realized.
Also, my writing teacher once said something that's always stuck with me, which was, "It's good [in a story] to wonder why something happened. It's not good to wonder, 'what happened?'" Between the vagueness of the script and the incredibly dark filming (we had to turn off all the lights in the room to be able to see certain scenes at all), the viewer is all too often left wondering what happened.
Basically, this is a very busy movie (although oddly boring--during that endless half hour or so when they were gearing up to go into the alien vessel for the first time and then finally got their first glimpse of the aliens, I was thinking the whole movie could have been a short and saved us all some time) that attempts to accomplish everything in its 2-hour runtime and ends up just kinda telling a rambling story.
Can we talk about the alien ship design? It looks like rock, but it has perfectly rectangular 'doors' that appear in its surface! How ... unimaginative and unrealistic! When it's done doing its vaguely threatening moving-horizontal thing (to force humanity to learn to communicate with other humans better? how thoughtful of them to traverse the galaxy just to teach us this important lesson), it simply disappears! How ... arty, and inexplicable!
And just, gaiz, seriously, come on, defining a female main character around losing a child: CAN WE PLEASE GET A FEMALE-LED SCIFI MOVIE THAT DOESN'T SHORTHAND CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT THIS WAY??
Ahem. So yeah, in sum: LOTS of potential, kinda spends the whole running time trying to knit something together while it's constantly falling apart. What the hell, Hollywood--I haven't seen a good, solid scifi movie in what seems like ages! Passengers looked really good, too, but it got far worse reviews than Arrival, so I'm not hopeful (though I do want to see it), and though people were apeshit over Gravity, I wasn't that wild about that one, either. GIMME MY GOOD SCIFI FIX!! Because I REALLLLY wanted to like Arrival and alas, just couldn't. I have, however, heard great things about The Expanse, so I think I'ma try that one next.