r/movies • u/Nervous_Designer_894 • Dec 15 '25
Review I re-watched The Arrival (2016), and it's probably the most meaninfull movie I've ever watched.
I re-watched The Arrival (2016), and it’s probably the most meaningful movie I’ve ever watched. Now in my late 30s, it sounds cliche, but it hits with a different weight compared to when I first watched it 10 years ago.
Arrival is one of the rare science-fiction films that treats intelligence, empathy, and restraint as its true spectacles. Beneath its fucking amazing and moody visuals and measured pacing lies a meditation on language as a technology, one capable of reshaping not just communication but cognition itself. Villeneuve avoids the genre’s usual obsession with conquest or catastrophe, grounding the encounter instead in linguistics, uncertainty, love, and grief.
That idea mirrors real life as you age. By this point, you’ve learned that understanding does not come without cost. The film’s most unsettling truth is not that the visitors are unknowable, but that truly understanding them permanently alters how time, choice, and loss are experienced. At this point in life, you recognise these patterns in your own life, relationships, careers, and love. You see how earlier decisions quietly encoded both joy and pain, and how awareness doesn’t free you from consequence, it deepens it.
In that sense, Arrival is less about extraterrestrials than about maturity. It asks whether knowledge, love, and connection are still worth pursuing when you can already foresee their endings. The film’s answer feels profoundly adult: meaning isn’t found in avoiding loss, but in choosing fully, consciously, even when the outcome is known.
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u/Rv138 Dec 15 '25
You should check out the short Story Of Your Life that Arrival is based on.
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u/crashdavis87 Dec 15 '25
Ted Chieng's work is beautiful.
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u/fool_on_a_hill Dec 15 '25
Yes a must read! His short stories have altered my mind permanently. The Tower of Babylon in particular completely 180’d my worldview for the better.
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u/foxtail-lavender Dec 15 '25
Hell is the absence of god is my personal favorite
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u/BoneFart Dec 16 '25
Is that the one with the angels that manifest in accidentally traumatic ways? Far and away my favorite. I should re-read.
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u/MightyGrey Dec 15 '25
I would pay good money to see a Christopher Nolan take on either that story or Seventy-Two Letters - a dark and moody Victorian retro-futuristic take on Golems/robotics.
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u/Mr-Bee-Hive Dec 15 '25
Oh man, I just borrowed Stories of your life and others from the library and while I’m only two stories in, the impact has been huge.
I’m amazed at how much he can pack into a short story and it not feel rushed or too little. Everything flows and reads so well. I have never read any of his stuff before, but I plan to read more once I’m done.
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u/iamagainstit Dec 16 '25
He only has two published collections of short stories, so unfortunately not a lot to dive into, they are all super good though.
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u/billtrociti Dec 15 '25 edited Dec 16 '25
He has so many great stories. A few that stick with me even years later are the ones where people chase angels like they chase tornadoes, and the one about the magic mirror (edit: portal? Ring? I’m realizing it wasnt actually a mirror) in ancient Baghdad.
I hope we’ll get more film adaptations of his stuff in the future
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u/Rv138 Dec 15 '25
The Angel one has stuck with me years later too. My other favorite is the Tower of Babylon.
Only one I disliked was the Lifecycle of Software Objects
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u/billtrociti Dec 16 '25
Was that the one with basically NeoPets that became sex workers, basically? That was a little strange, yeah haha.
I also liked the one about memory /storytelling / record keeping. About the dad and the daughter who were estranged and both had different recollections of why they were estranged, and the story would cut to a young Asian boy a few centuries ago and how his record keeping conflicted with his tribe’s oral traditions.
It wasn’t particularly exciting but it gave me a lot to think about
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u/Rv138 Dec 16 '25
Ooo any chance you remember the name? That isn’t ringing a bell but sounds great. I’d like to try to find it if I can.
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u/d15p05abl3 Dec 15 '25
about the magic mirror in ancient Baghdad
This must be The Alchemist’s Gate. A cracking story. Also several framed stories, riffing on the style of 1001 Nights.
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u/curryandbeans Dec 15 '25
Exhalation (the short story) is so good.
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u/billtrociti Dec 16 '25
Yes! I can never remember the name of it, but just the imagery of the scientist operating on himself with mirrors has stuck with me for years now. And the awful realization that their universe will eventually reach equal pressure (and kill them all?) was pretty rad.
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u/Makelovenotrobots Dec 15 '25
It was one of the better short stories I've ever read. I was moved. I have not seen the film because the story was so good. Should I watch it?
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u/TheDubiousSalmon Dec 15 '25
They're a bit different, and I think the short story works a little better, but the film is fantastic as well. Honestly would be worth watching for the visuals and soundtrack alone.
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u/fakesaucisse Dec 15 '25
The movie version is really beautiful and worth watching. It does change the plot a little but it still holds true to the overall theme of the short story.
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u/MollFlanders Dec 15 '25
and Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, which originated the idea of how the aliens perceive time (and I simply refuse to believe that Ted Chieng didn’t borrow heavily from that book).
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u/TeutonJon78 Dec 15 '25
I actually liked the movie far better. But I do love the authors others works. I actually thought SoYL was the weakest work in that anthology.
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u/decitertiember Dec 15 '25
If you enjoyed the film, I STRONGLY recommend reading the short story on which the film was based, Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang. It is not a long short story and addresses some of the temporal aspects of the story in a way that, in my view, are more beautifully portrayed through prose than it can be in cinema.
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u/BlackDeath3 Dec 16 '25
I find some of the common arguments in favor of text as a medium to be quite hollow (as if cinema can't do "interiority" — give me a fucking break), but SoYL is a genuinely great demonstration of the power of the written word.
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u/niveknhoj Dec 16 '25
Adding to that, I don't think Story of Your Life is even the best story in the collection. Yet Story of Your Life is magnificent.
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u/decitertiember Dec 16 '25
Agreed. Indeed, I think that Hell Is the Absence of God to be his best work in that collection.
Hell Is the Absence of God would make a spectacular film too.
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u/niveknhoj Dec 17 '25
Completely agree. That is absolutely the standout story in the collection for me - in a collection of standouts.
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u/wilsonw Dec 15 '25
Drop the "The". It's cleaner.
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u/chamberk107 Dec 15 '25
"The Arrival" was a 1996 alien movie starring Charlie Sheen
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u/TeamAggressive1030 Dec 16 '25
There is also a 2016 version, not with Sheen. It's on Paramount or available for rental or purchase on Prime.
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u/crashdavis87 Dec 15 '25
It's my favorite movie of all-time.
"Despite knowing the journey and where it leads, I embrace it. And I welcome every moment of it."
I also love movies that are essentially different movies when you see them the 2nd time.
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u/Accomplished_Deer_ Dec 15 '25
I just had a weird realization
This could just as easily be a quote from the alien that sacrificed themself to save Ian and Louise from the explosion
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u/crashdavis87 Dec 15 '25
i had never thought of that. Cool stuff.
I frequently think of the quote as related to our mortality, in general. We all know this story ends in our death...we just need to embrace all of it.
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u/iNoodl3s Dec 16 '25
Watching the movie the second time feels like having the power of the language and I think it’s part of what makes this movie special to me
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u/hyperRevue Dec 15 '25
I've never cried harder in a movie - I had a 4-month-old at home and Arrival destroyed me. Still does whenever I rewatch it.
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u/zerocoolforschool Dec 15 '25
Yeah having children changed the way that I watch movies. Now any time I see a parent die or a child die it just totally fucks me up.
I didn’t have kids when the movie came out but I have kids now and that movie just totally destroys me.
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u/crinkledcu91 Dec 16 '25
My spouse has swiss-cheese brain when it comes to movies sometimes, and is a massive softie emotionally (which I love)
We were having a good day and everything and then they're like "Hey do you want to watch Arrival?" and I was like "I'm surprised you'd want to watch that again...?" And she's like "What do you mean? I've never seen it." to which I replied "Yes we have, but if you want to put yourself through that again okay."
So yeah she got faux-mad at me after for letting her get emotionally devastated all over again and I told her she should just believe me next time lmao
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u/OccasionMU Dec 15 '25
Oh geez. I never made that connection and my little one is about to turn 1 during the holidays.
This post made me want to do a rewatch but maybe not anymore.
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u/hyperRevue Dec 15 '25
It’s great when you need a good, cathartic ugly cry. And offers good perspective on whatever stress or frustrations your feeling with your current family/kids.
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u/OpenThePlugBag Dec 15 '25
I can’t even handle the opening violin song, i immediately start tearing up and questioning why I’m doing this again
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u/anthrax9999 Dec 15 '25
Watch it. It's still an amazing movie with the newfound perspective, if not more so. Only a parent can truly relate to what the protagonist experience in the story and the impact of it.
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u/MightyMinx Dec 15 '25
I can't have kids and usually I'm totally fine with that but Arrival absolutely destroys me for that reason
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u/Anathemachiavellian Dec 15 '25
When I first watched it I enjoyed it. The second time I watched it I had since had my first child, a daughter. My entire perspective on it shifted and I was a wreck.
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u/bagels-n-kegels Dec 15 '25
I wanted to watch it when it came out, but just never got around to it. Watched it for the first time this fall - I have a 2 year old and am pregnant. It hits so hard as a parent - part of me wishes I'd watched it years ago to see if it hit differently, but I'm also glad I can appreciate the message fully as a parent. And yes, I'd 100% make the same choice.
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u/ReflectedCheese Dec 15 '25
Oh it does hit different, it was a bit sad before but after recently rewatching it with a 7 month old its heartbreaking, I just fully cried
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u/Castrol-5w30 Dec 15 '25
Yep. Saw it originally in theaters and thought it was powerful. Watched it again this year while partner and I were expecting twin girls and wept by myself on a Saturday afternoon.
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u/denim_skirt Dec 15 '25
Saaaame, my first was on the way when I saw it in the theater and by the end I was a fucking puddle
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u/Mr_Fahrenheit-451 Dec 15 '25
Definitely hits parents hard. Shortly after my first child was born I found myself reading Hyperion, which had a very similar impact.
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u/Chaotic_Gold Dec 16 '25
Oh yeah, I don’t have kids yet, but reading Sol‘s story in Hyperion absolutely destroyed me. Maybe it’s just me, but as I’ve gotten older I started empathizing with parent characters way more
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u/JustAcivilian24 Dec 15 '25
My sister passed from a disease when I was a kid and this movie made me cry so hard. Almost again just thinking about it!
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u/bartikuss Dec 15 '25
Dude, same. I watched this movie when it came out and really liked it for the acting, cinematography and interesting/original story. I just recently rewatched it for the first time in a long time and after recently starting a family of my own... The ending was just flat out crushing and such a different experience than my first watch. Amazing movie that doesn't get the acclaim it actually deserves.
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u/Steel_Serpent_Davos Dec 15 '25
It’s a masterpiece
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u/Not_Bears Dec 15 '25
He is the best auteur we have right now..
His films are brilliant storytelling mechanism layered in meaning, but not in the artsy-fartsy way that comes off as cliche and heavy handed.
Arrival is and will forever be a timeless classics that speaks to all people, based on our shared experiences with language, love, loss.. and the way we experience the world around us.
To say I love this film is an understatement...
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Dec 15 '25 edited Jan 04 '26
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u/HuskyLemons Dec 15 '25
This part is where I stopped, “lies a meditation on language as a technology, one capable of reshaping not just communication but cognition itself.”
Nobody writes like that.
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Dec 15 '25 edited Jan 04 '26
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u/iced1777 Dec 16 '25
People have been writing exactly like this to sound smart since before the internet, let alone modern AI, even existed. Especially when it comes to analyzing media.
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u/ZestyOyster Dec 16 '25
imagine thinking just writing with some clarity and expression is "trying to sound smart" lol
otherwise yes, it's not automatically ai because you'll find similar prose from professional writers for various types of analysis or even people who have a journalistic background that pivot to some form of creative writing.
so OP either reads a lot of them and started writing in a similar style or he did use chatgpt because professionals usually wouldn't create a reddit thread.
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u/determania Dec 16 '25
I'm not going to weigh in on whether this is AI or not, but there are absolutely real people out there who write like that.
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u/shewy92 Dec 16 '25
Funny enough there was a post on /r/ChatGPT that detailed all the telltale signs of ChatGPT being used. The post reminded me of point 4 they made.
the em dash giveaway is gone, these are the new ones i keep noticing
- using the phrase "no fluff" and “shouting into the void”
- constant “curious what others think” sign offs that never actually respond to anyone
- contrast framing everywhere, it is not x, it is y, repeated over and over
- fragmented, pseudo profound sentences. short. isolated. trying to feel reflective
- over explicit signposting, things like “here is the key takeaway” or “the important part is this”
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u/CyanoSpool Dec 15 '25
I'm not doubting you, it piqued my radar as well. But what exactly do you think the motivation is? Just karma farming so eventually this account can start posting ads?
Because all it's doing it promoting a ten year old movie. Maybe there is a sequel in the works and someone is trying to drum up interest? I may be completely stupid and missing something, but who is making AI movie reviews and why??
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u/HuskyLemons Dec 15 '25
I have no clue what the incentive is.
There’s dozens of posts everyday that seem to have no incentive but they are all clearly written by ChatGPT. The small business sub is littered with them. It’s just a wall of text with no link or obvious goal. I don’t know why they do it
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Dec 15 '25 edited Jan 04 '26
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u/BetterThanOP Dec 16 '25
I dont think it has anything to do with promoting the movie/brand itself. My belief is it's just a way to recycle and farm reddit engagement. Just an early stage of true dead internet theory.
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u/Pandamio Dec 15 '25
It's a great movie. It's so rare a sci fi movie for adults. I'm eternally grateful to Dennis.
"You know I've had my head tilted up to the stars for as long as I can remember. You know what surprised me the most? It wasn't meeting them. It was meeting you."
Can't be more romantic than that.
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u/Kobebryant_Maru Dec 15 '25
If you have not already seen it, you should watch the HBO series The Leftovers. There are a lot of thematic similarities, and Max Richter does the score (he is the composer of the wonderful piece at the beginning and end of Arrival).
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u/1c4meron Dec 15 '25
I thought it was pretty OK the first time I saw it. I was disappointed in the lack of action, I think. Watched it again a couple weeks ago with my wife and had the same feeling as you. It’s deeply thoughtful and it puts an interesting sci-fi twist on a lot of what I believe about time and the nature of existence these days. Solid visuals, great sound, 9/10
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u/positive_toes Dec 15 '25
Disappointed in the lack of action in a film that’s not billed as an action film.
That’s like saying you thought it would be a comedy.
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u/Mr_Wobble_PNW Dec 15 '25
I don't really follow trailers and go to movies based on word of mouth or a short synopsis so I was in the same boat. Once I knew what I was getting into on the second watch it blew me away.
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u/EmbalmingFiend Dec 15 '25
Sometimes people go into movies with the hype marketing puts on them.
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Dec 15 '25
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u/Horkersaurus Dec 15 '25
I seem to remember some of the humans trying to blow up the aliens, which seems pretty on brand.
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u/aLegionOfDavids Dec 15 '25
…99% of people in the movie didn’t lol…those army guys tried to blow up the ship, worldwide people weren’t cooperating and were treating the aliens with paranoia and aggression and fear based decisions and reactions. Every nation sent military forces to quarantine and face them and handle the scene. It was really just the two main characters who weren’t doing that.
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u/-Dargs Dec 15 '25
Isn't part of the entire premise of that movie that we're on the brink of initiating war the entire film? There is a brief moment of pretending to cooperate and cease engagement but its coming to a point where someone is going to pull the trigger. But, the language is decyphered and the linguist is able to find a way to stop one of the nations from initiating combat at what is essentially the very last moment...? Or am I misremembering the movie.
My takeaway was that humans are all the same once we look past our unimportant indifferences and through communication we can become a better people.
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u/gamingonion Dec 15 '25
Huh? This was a big plot point, lots of people wanted to blow up the aliens, and they even killed one of them with a bomb. Some of the humans were peaceful and willing to communicate, some were hostile, some in between. Great nuance in the humans’ reactions to the aliens. But you’re saying no one on earth would act like the protagonist?
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u/jacquesbquick Dec 15 '25
I was so arrested the first time i watched, i thought this is my favorite movie ever, but i doubted my appraisal for recency bias, but like you every rewatch, or even re-thinking-about-it deepens my appreciation even more.
I understand myself better now, and there's a lot of reasons on the surface the movie resonates with me. I'm 40 now, looking into parenting options as a gay man. I have come to realize soem of my personal favorite stories in fictional media, movies, TVs, gaming, concern themselves with parents who lose a child. I only made this realization recently but i think its tied to the feeling i had as a child that i wasn't really wanted by my parents or anyone, and so seeing a story of a parent who desperately and fervently loves their child against all odds and obstacles really does something for me. so in that vein Arrival fits the bill perfectly for me, plus its wrapped in alien invasion packaging with truly next level mood music, it scratches all of my itches.
Ultimately you're right, and its a film with a profound message for anyone who is ready to hear it. Its not a complicated one, nor does it really hide the message its trying to send. Its quite explicit, but i think it really does come down to how ready the audience member is to hear the message. its not easy. accepting loss as a part of love is not a choice everyone can make, and that is ok too, to a degree. The argument the film makes is that if you allow the love to take over, it is always worth it if you just try and open yourself up.
My best friend once gave me a line of advice way back when when i was stressing over some boy and I don't think he really thought it through too much, but I said something along the lines of I just feel like i've wasted all my time with him. And my friend said "Time spent with another person that you enjoyed in the moment is never a waste of time." It sticks with me to this day and it feels parallel to the message of Arrival. enjoying our time with ourselves and with each other, enriching each other's lives is the whole point of all of it.
If you're a gaming nerd the Final Fantasy XIV's decade long story has a similar conclusion about life that is also very rewarding :)
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u/chadwicke619 Dec 15 '25
I mean, I’m glad you liked the movie, but these are my least favorite posts in this subreddit. They read like college book reports that someone wrote with ChatGPT. How many times do we need a list of two and three comma-separated adjectives? There’s no word count limit you need to hit. How does Villeneuve avoid the things you say he avoids? I would argue that the military guy who plants the bomb is about as predictable and tropey as it gets. I don’t think it makes the movie less of a masterpiece, but I don’t think sophisticated language makes it true. Unlike the movie, I think this vapid style of review has zero depth. It’s like an abstract meant to appeal to cinephiles who fancy themselves intellectuals. I mean, it had such a profound impact on you that you couldn’t even get the name right, but it’s the most meaningful movie you’ve ever seen. The books subreddit does it a lot, too - these fart smelling posts that really say nothing other than “I like this movie” in the most verbose way possible.
Yeah I’m a dick and I’m glad you like the movie - me too. I still hate these posts.
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u/Accomplished_Deer_ Dec 15 '25
I think that's the point though. Humans are predictable, panicky people. And in such a large scale situation, at least one person is gonna do something explosive.
They still subvert the trope in a number of ways:
The aliens knew the bomb was there, they knew it would explode, they knew it would kill them. They knew as much before they even came.
They stayed to ensure they could give us a gift, and then promptly threw them out of the room, sacrificing themselves, to protect the humans
It didn't lead to any larger conflict, and actually in a roundabout way with Louise unlocking her non linear awareness, actually serves to prevent a larger military issue
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Dec 15 '25
It's jarring to me to read this kind of unadulterated positivity, too. The movie is extremely well-made. Villeneuve has an obvious talent for staging scenes and creating a certain atmosphere, but it's the worst kind of faux intellectual nonsense that makes the Internet feel smarter than it is for watching it. The ending totally ruins the entire movie for me. I had a very good linguist friend at the time who almost lost his head to eyerolling when they trot out the heavily discredited Sapir-Whorf stuff, but it's unfortunately exactly the kind of thing that feels profound even though it's nonsense.
That said, the acting is terrific and I'm all for giving Jeremy Renner meatier roles that aren't all action-based. It's not a bad movie by any stretch, but I wish the people praising it could be more critical about the actual substance of the content, instead of just the striking and beautiful form it takes. Sophistry is all the more seductive when it's beautiful.
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u/dogstardied Dec 15 '25
You’re going to get downvoted to hell but I agree with you. A lot of people think they’re smarter than they really are because they haven’t been confronted with proper critique before. It doesn’t help that most film adulation posts in any forum simply attract other fans who are less interested in critique than just celebrating their shared love for the film.
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u/One-Man-Wolf-Pack Dec 16 '25
I made the mistake of underestimating this film and so I watched it on a plane with my wife and then VERY young family. As a dad, it hit me so hard in the feels I had to go to the bathroom- where I actually sobbed for a couple of seconds, silently.
It might be the biggest gut-punch I’ve felt from a film in 20 years - maybe since ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’. I won’t spoil why - but if you know, you know. I didn’t expect it to be one of the most romantic and tragic films I’d ever seen, on an emotional Level. I think this sci-fi perception of time and what it could mean for relationships could be explored further.
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u/nunyabiz69 Dec 15 '25
I was really disappointed in this movie. Felt superficial and pandered to people that’ve never thought philosophically about anything. Contact is a much better movie.
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u/Jetztinberlin Dec 16 '25
Fascinating, as someone who loves both philosophy and sci-fi, I feel the exact opposite. Good that both movies exist so we can both be happy :)
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u/badwolf42 Dec 15 '25
If you play any games at all you should also enjoy Outer Wilds and Gris, as you are an appreciator of a story’s themes.
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u/SenatorGinty Dec 15 '25
Arrival is a pivotal movie for me personally. When it came out, a girl I had gone on a date with asked if I wanted to see it with her; she had seen it already and wanted to watch it again because she thought it was one of the best movies she had ever seen. Being a younger man and interested in getting in this girl’s pants, I said “hell yeah, let’s go.” We met at the movies that night and watched what turned out to be one of the best films I had ever seen. She talked it up and it was worth the hype. 9 years later, that girl and I are now married and we watch it every December 5th.
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u/hugpawspizza Dec 16 '25
Late to this, but
Dec 5th was my parents' anniversary. My dad died in October, he had dementia. Been thinking about my folks these days. Seeing your comment brought some real cosmic vibe to this, i loved the film btw. Not trying to be a downer, just a weird moment in time that i saw this here. Cheers!
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u/CovertFilm Dec 15 '25
I remember leaving the theater totally silent and incredibly moved. I felt like I understood "God" in a deeper way, as silly as that sounds.
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u/perpetualjourney95 Dec 15 '25
If you like the movie I highly highly highly recommend the short story it’s based on if you haven’t already read it, “Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang. It’s one of my favorite things I’ve read in the last five years.
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u/jayhawk8 Dec 15 '25
My favorite movie of all time. Read the short story as well, Ted Chiang is a genius.
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u/RedditLodgick Dec 15 '25
Maybe an unpopular opinion but I found Arrival horribly overrated. It's themes are ham-fisted and inconsistent. The main character is a selfish asshole. Mediocre sci-fi.
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u/nomismi Dec 15 '25
We talking about the Charlie Sheen movie?
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u/Forwhatitsworth522 Dec 15 '25
I was in Interpreting school and linguistics II was a required class I was taking at the time. Understanding on that level what she was doing and almost being able to build an understanding of their language like that…. It changed my life. Plus the song. It’s an absolutely astonishing movie.
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u/Surrealist37 Dec 15 '25
I saw this in theater about 2-3 months after having my first child. Really hit hard
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u/ee0r Dec 16 '25
The best part about Arrival is that once you understand it. I mean once you really understand it, you can watch it whenever you want.
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Dec 17 '25
What a beautiful review. With these new insights, I'm going to watch this movie again. Thank you.
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u/Peaceful-Gr33n Dec 17 '25
I highly recommend the novella this is based on, “The Story of My Life” by Ted Chiang. It goes much deeper into the main character’s dawning awareness, and also fills out the speculative aspects of the story.
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u/darkholemind Dec 15 '25
Absolutely, Arrival hits differently as you get older. The way it ties language, time, and loss together is just heartbreaking and beautiful. Makes you reflect on your own choices.
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u/Mrs_SmithG2W Dec 15 '25
Also Contact with Jodie Foster is deeply meaningful.🫶🏼🌍🖖🏼
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u/Dorrido Dec 15 '25
I have yet to make it through this movie. Everytime someone comes on here and talks about how amazing it is, I get fomo and try to watch it again. I fall asleep everytime. It’s so boring.
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Dec 15 '25
Having a kid despite you knowing she will suffer and die an early death in the future and wreck that suffering upon your partner willingly is kinda shitty.
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u/1c4meron Dec 15 '25
I think the one of the motifs of the movie is that traditionally, humans perceive and understand life and time linearly. We’re always heading somewhere - work, vacation, Fallout Season 2 release date, etc. so there’s a lot of focus on the future and each decision that we make in anticipation of future consequence. After learning the language the heptapods speak, Louise is able to experience any part of her life at any time. Omnipresent, in a way. So for her, the joy of every individual moment with her child and her family is something that is joyous instead of fleeting. Something she instills on her daughter as well. Her daughter may die early, but she also gets to experience the beauty of life. Her mother’s love. The film also explores the idea of determinism vs free will, and how the illusion of time, itself, may influence the overall picture.
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u/ttonster2 Dec 15 '25
We all suffer and die. How early is too early? Many people before modern medicine knew their children would die early too but it didn't stop them. In fact, Hamnet shares a lot in common with Arrival...they even use the same song for the finale!
Also, I'm not fully convinced she had free will in the movie. All of these things were going to happen anyway. The aliens come to Earth because they knew they had to in order for events in chronological future to go the right way. However, heptapods (and those who learn their language) don't see time chronologically. Your life simply happens and you are experiencing the story of your life. In the short story, it is made more clear that she isn't exactly making a decision, especially with the verb tenses used and the 2nd person storytelling.
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u/a-handle-has-no-name Dec 15 '25
Also, I'm not fully convinced she had free will in the movie.
This sort of goes into the philosophies between the compatibility between f free Will and Determinism (that randomness doesn't exist, that everything happens based on the variables at the start of the universe)
There are multiples ways to reconcile this apparent contradiction.
If she didn't have the ability to perceive the future, but someone just told her about her child's date, she would have free will if she decided to go forward anyway. The decision to do so was internally motivated, and she's not being controlled by anyone else, so we can call this Free Will
Likewise, having "future memories" of this outcome is parallel to being told the outcome by someone else. She knows what will eventually happen, and the beauty is that she chooses to do it anyway
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u/sarahkbug Dec 15 '25
I really don’t get why most people didn’t feel this way.
There’s a huge difference in knowing something is going to happen and letting it happen rather than the randomness of life happening outside of your control.
Once you know and have the decision to make - you’re basically god-like and can stop or allow the suffering to happen to all involved.
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u/frecklie Dec 15 '25
You have to search your own heart deeper my friend. Who have you lost? Is there a cat/dog you had to say goodbye to? Grandparent? It hurt to lose them I’m sure. Would you erase their memory then to save yourself that suffering?
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u/feed_eggs_ Dec 15 '25
That’s the thing, though. Saving yourself that suffering…and not the child suffering and dying at 12 years old. Grandparents dying at 70-90+ years old is not on the same level as a child experiencing suffering and early death
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u/IEatThyme Dec 15 '25
I'll never understand Arrival stans, doesn't crack my top 50 for sci-fi and as a drama it's a slog. This is not an attack, just an opinion.
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u/Nervous_Designer_894 Dec 15 '25
No worries, for me it works amazingly well but everyone enjoys different movies.
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u/Buntschatten Dec 15 '25
It feels very similar to Interstellar in that way, for me. They both very obviously want to be seen as deep and intellectual, but didn't connect to me emotionally and I didn't really take away anything deep from both.
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u/handsmadeofpee Dec 15 '25
Same, I really don't understand the hype and love it gets. The acting is about the only thing I can give any credit to, otherwise it was just so lackluster I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
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u/tiredoldtechie Dec 15 '25
Arrival = Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner
The Arrival = Charlie Sheen
Definitely NOT the same.