Arrival - 7/10 - The marketing dept for this film should all be sacked immediately, then flogged, then shot, then flogged again!
It was advertised as an Alien Invasion style film (like maybe a "talky" Independence Day) where as it was nothing like that, which is why I think it's been so polarising with audiences. Instead of an Invasion film it's actually a beautifully shot and thoughtful piece on how language defines us and how understanding that can open up new ways of thinking so it's more of a "thinker" film than an "action" type. I thought all 3 leads played their parts very well, although TBF, Forest Whitaker had very little real emoting to really do. The Production/set-dressing etc was fantastic and some the US military base CGI was virtually perfect (still not 100% sure if the CH-47's were real or not) although the CGI for the other 11 bases was much poorer and the lack of story from those other sites, while integral to the story i.e. if we stop talking to each other, see how bad the situation can get, well it was a bit annoying as we only get 1 persons perspective but it's just a minor issue. However I loved the circular storyline and had no issues following it once the connection to the way the Aliens viewed time was found but I did feel that last 10 minutes (after the Chinese phone call) was a little too drawn out and the same effect could have been done in less time without harming the ending.
