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This article calls 'Arrival' as 'One of the Best Sci-Fi Films of the Century' but was it? I tried it and I was like ... 'meh' (www.msn.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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spoilers ahead I felt like the character conflict arcs were contrived and ultimately the idea of learning a language makes you a pre-cog fell flat for me. In science fiction, the big idea goes 'woo!' or the characters go 'woo!' but in the case of Arrival, nothing really went 'woo!'

But maybe I'm wrong - what was I missing about Arrival?

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I loved Arrival, and personally I found both the ideas and the characters compelling - but if the 'language changing perception' part didn't land for you, I can see why you wouldn't care for it.

If you haven't already read it, it might be worth trying the short story that it's based on ('Story of Your Life' by Ted Chiang, in the collection Stories of Your Life and Others), instead. I found the story a bit drier than the film, but perhaps you'll prefer it.

(ETA: And in the time I was thinking about and typing this up, I see others have beaten me to suggesting the short story!)