[b]SPOILER WARNING![/b] If you haven't seen the film Arrival, and you want to, then [b]don't watch this video![/b] It spoils the ending of the film.
[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z18LY6NME1s[/media]
So I don't post threads very often these days, but the moment I saw this video, I just had to share it.
Arrival is hands down one of my favorite films of the past ten years, if not my [b]most[/b] favorite, and it is so because of many of the reasons that Nerdwriter1 describes in this video.
In fact, a week or so ago, I described Arrival to a friend in a way that perfectly reflects the name of this video: I told him that if you take all of the tropes of modern scifi films, like Independence Day: Resurgence - inane plot, hectic story, obtuse action-for-the-sake-of-action, etc, etc - and flipped them on their head, then you get Arrival. Arrival, to me, is a demonstration of what scifi [b]can[/b] be - thought-provoking, profound, and immense, rather than the braindead action schlock that the genre has become today.
Also of note, this is the first Villeneuve film I have ever seen, and after watching it, my opinion of the new Bladerunner film went from "meh" to "holy shit I want to see how Villeneuve and Johannsson tackle Bladerunner so badly." Similarly, I hope Villeneuve gets to do his Dune film, because I am convinced that he can do it justice, and if Johannsson works on the music for it like he did Arrival and the new Bladerunner, then it will simply be perfect.
So, of those who have seen Arrival, what did you think of it? Did you like it or not? And either way, why?
I literally just finished watching Arrival an hour ago.
It was by far one of the best sci-fi's I've seen in years. It was thought provoking and gripping with its story and that as simple as its premise was, it really went [i]somewhere[/i] with it. In an unexpected way.
This was my second Villeneuve film, Sicario being my first. I have very high hopes for Blade Runner 2049.
And if there's a Director who can give Dune the justice it deserves, it'll be him.
[QUOTE=Gubbinz96;51829245]I literally just finished watching Arrival an hour ago.
It was by far one of the best sci-fi's I've seen in years. It was thought provoking and gripping with its story and that as simple as its premise was, it really went [i]somewhere[/i] with it. In an unexpected way.
This was my second Villeneuve film, Sicario being my first. I have very high hopes for Blade Runner 2049.
And if there's a Director who can give Dune the justice it deserves, it'll be him.[/QUOTE]
Oh shit, Sicario was Villeneuve, too?
I didn't even realize that! I really enjoyed Sicario, too!
Yeah, my anticipation for the new Blade Runner and that speculative Dune film just intensified. :v:
I just watched Arrival for the first time last week, can definitely agree that it's a pretty fantastic sci-fi.
It kept me thinking about it for a while after I watched it, which rarely happens with other movies for me (watch and pretty much move on/forget about it afterwards). I think that's what defines a "great" movie for me, if it engages me enough outside of the actual viewing (I was looking up that mind-language theory right afterwards) instead of "oh that was nice" after the credits roll.
[QUOTE=Gubbinz96;51829245]I literally just finished watching Arrival an hour ago.
It was by far one of the best sci-fi's I've seen in years. It was thought provoking and gripping with its story and that as simple as its premise was, it really went [i]somewhere[/i] with it. In an unexpected way.
This was my second Villeneuve film, Sicario being my first. I have very high hopes for Blade Runner 2049.
And if there's a Director who can give Dune the justice it deserves, it'll be him.[/QUOTE]
Watch his older movies too. They're masterpieces
[QUOTE=elitehakor;51829417]Watch his older movies too. They're masterpieces[/QUOTE]
Specifically go watch Enemy, it fucks with your head in amazing ways
Prisoners is incredible too. Hugh Jackman played his best role in that movie, and everyone else is incredible too (Jake Gyllenhaal, Paul Dano, etc)
His french movies, like Incendies and Polytechnique, are horrifically heartwrenching but amazing as well, so watch those if you like his english movies. Sicario honestly pales in comparison to all his other movies, which is hilarious to say because it's a really good movie in its own right
[QUOTE=elitehakor;51829417]Watch his older movies too. They're masterpieces[/QUOTE]
Prisoners is still the only film that's had a scene I felt actual tension watching.
-snip-
I love Villeneuve and I love good sci-fi films, but it's really like im the only one on the planet who didnt really like this movie's plot.
note that everything else was great, music, acting, cinematography were fantastic, but the plot did not click with me at all and felt incredibly surface level and rushed.
Just finished it, fantastic.
[QUOTE=Yogkog;51829604]Prisoners is incredible too. Hugh Jackman played his best role in that movie, and everyone else is incredible too (Jake Gyllenhaal, Paul Dano, etc)
His french movies, like Incendies and Polytechnique, are horrifically heartwrenching but amazing as well, so watch those if you like his english movies. Sicario honestly pales in comparison to all his other movies, which is hilarious to say because it's a really good movie in its own right[/QUOTE]
i still need to watch polytechnique
but incendies is a fucking work of art. definitely my favorite Villeneuve movie, and maybe my favorite movie overall?
Looks like I'm the one against the grain here. I thought the movie was kinda stupid and cliche while also trying to be anti-cliche.
What really killed it for me was the whole "god and hero" kind of deal it had. Aliens are super advanced-god like race and for no good reason the hero gains abilities that suddenly allow her to excel and move the plot further.
The whole future prediction subplot was also kinda poorly executed I feel.
Also why did they randomly put boxes of explosives into alien ship AND let the scientists go there despite timer being very close to explosion?
There's this huge ass unknown alien ship and all the government did was send in a small camp of soldiers? It was hard for me to keep immersed in this.
To add the romance subplot was also rather awful pandering to generic hollywood tropes.
[QUOTE=rndgenerator;51831034]Looks like I'm the one against the grain here. I thought the movie was kinda stupid and cliche while also trying to be anti-cliche.
What really killed it for me was the whole "god and hero" kind of deal it had. Aliens are super advanced-god like race and for no good reason the hero gains abilities that suddenly allow her to excel and move the plot further.
The whole future prediction subplot was also kinda poorly executed I feel.
Also why did they randomly put boxes of explosives into alien ship AND let the scientists go there despite timer being very close to explosion?
There's this huge ass unknown alien ship and all the government did was send in a small camp of soldiers? It was hard for me to keep immersed in this.
To add the romance subplot was also rather awful pandering to generic hollywood tropes.[/QUOTE]
Are you sure you saw the movie? Everything is pretty much explained.
i haven't had a chance to watch this yet, how closely does it stick to the short story it is based on?
For people who've seen it:
[sp]At the end of Arrival, was she seeing her future and teaching her kid the alien language?[/sp]
Only thing I was a little confused on.
Everything in this film clicked with me and the attention to detail ([sp]Especially the circular symbols representing a non-linear perspective of time[/sp]) were supurb.
I came into the theater expecting a thought provoking, existential first contact film like Contact (1997) and I came out with my expectations well exceeded.
Its only now watching this video that I realized the parallels that are drawn with cinema that he makes.
Arguably the best film of the decade IMO.
[editline]16th February 2017[/editline]
[QUOTE=xianlee;51831943]For people who've seen it:
[sp]At the end of Arrival, was she seeing her future and teaching her kid the alien language?[/sp]
Only thing I was a little confused on.[/QUOTE]
Arrival doesn't fit nicely into [sp]any of our hypothetical ideas about time travel or causality. I've thought that maybe it was a parallel worlds thing like Steins;Gate but that doesn't work. I thought it was like Primer's idea about time travel but that doesn't explain the looping causality that Adam's character experiences. (See the part where she figures out the phone number whilst 'simultaneously' talking to the chinese president learning his phone number)[/sp]
TL;DR: Arrival [sp]breaks alot of our conventions of causality. I just accepted the looping 'causality' b/c I couldn't crack it and physics doesn't help either[/sp]
[QUOTE=LoneWolf_Recon;51831966]Arrival doesn't fit nicely into [sp]any of our hypothetical ideas about time travel or causality. I've thought that maybe it was a parallel worlds thing like Steins;Gate but that doesn't work. I thought it was like Primer's idea about time travel but that doesn't explain the looping causality that Adam's character experiences. (See the part where she figures out the phone number whilst 'simultaneously' talking to the chinese president learning his phone number)[/sp]
TL;DR: Arrival [sp]breaks alot of our conventions of causality. I just accepted the looping 'causality' b/c I couldn't crack it and physics doesn't help either[/sp][/QUOTE]
It's by far the biggest stretch the movie makes, and if you can get over that physics hurdle it's a really good and just super well made film. It was one of those movies that I kept thinking about afterwards and the more I thought about it the more everything about it makes sense. [sp]Like every single thing about that movie loops back into itself and supports itself. It's internally consistent in a way that must have been a nightmare to work out when writing.[/sp]
[QUOTE=Why485;51833353]It's by far the biggest stretch the movie makes, and if you can get over that physics hurdle it's a really good and just super well made film. It was one of those movies that I kept thinking about afterwards and the more I thought about it the more everything about it makes sense. [sp]Like every single thing about that movie loops back into itself and supports itself. It's internally consistent in a way that must have been a nightmare to work out when writing.[/sp][/QUOTE]
You might wanna [sp]Spoiler those last two lines dude[/sp]
I love that this movie does to language what other sci-fi media has already done to so many other things. Transportation "sci-fied" becomes teleportation, guns sci-fied become more powerful laser guns with expanded utility, the difficulties of space travel are circumvented.
Arrival takes the theory that language sculps the way we think on a very fundamental level and sci-fies it. It explores the idea that the right kind of language could alter our perception to the point of experiencing reality in a completely different way.
[QUOTE=LoneWolf_Recon;51833655]You might wanna [sp]Spoiler those last two lines dude[/sp][/QUOTE]
and you might wanna do that to your quote
[editline]17th February 2017[/editline]
[QUOTE=Ninja Gnome;51831823]i haven't had a chance to watch this yet, how closely does it stick to the short story it is based on?[/QUOTE]
90% up to the ending
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