I was expecting a generic alien invasion movie, and I was pleasantly surprised
Iβve only watched it once, and I really didnβt like it. I feel like I need to give it another shot though.
this post was submitted on 09 Feb 2025
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The rule is simple: if uts by Denis Villeneuve, YOU WATCH IT
Really is a good view.
I know that I enjoyed this movie but I don't remember it at all. Yay, I get to watch it again like it's new.
Me rewatching a movie:
"Oh yeah, I remember this part..."
"Oh yeah, I remember this part..."
I didnβt know how it was going to end, at any point during the movie.
Thatβs a good thing
Yeah, genuinely one of my favourite original sci-fi movies I've watched in the last decade. I did a linguistics course in high school so just really loved that side of it. It also really felt like they did a great job building the tension and making it feel like there were high stakes to her work.
It's not original, though it expands on Ted Chiang's short story "Story of Your Life".
I suppose you are going to tell everyone that Dune was based on a book the next time someone compliments the pacing and direction of that movie?
The poster art for Arrival says it's based on a story by Ted Chiang, it isn't some secret nobody knows but you.
What does being original or not have anything to do with what the original commenter wrote? MOST movies are based on previously existing stories. They were focusing on the movie. If you read the book and want to show everyone how much more you know than they do, it would be more impressive if you had said "i read the story the movie was based on, and comparatively, ". It might have even made for an interesting and productive comment.
Usually when the word "original" is used in the context of media, it means it's a new idea/concept/story, in opposition to an "'adaptation" from another media (like a movie to a videogame, or a book to a movie). This movie is an adaptation.
I'm not criticizing your opinion, as I really like the movie too (including pacing and direction). Only the terminology.
genuinely one of my favourite original sci-fi movies I've watched in the last decade
π
Then I guess NO movie can be called original, because at a minimum they begin with a written screenplay, so that screenplay is the ORIGINAL work in pedanticland.
And here I thought the grammar police were bad.
A screenplay is part of (the process of making) a film. It's not an independent work.
I had no idea what I was watching when I sat down in the theater. My friend had bought the ticket and I just showed up. I didn't know ANYTHING.
One of the best experiences of my life and it turned me into a Denis Villeneuve super fan.
Same. I'm skeptical of most newer movies given all the rehashes and sequels. The presentation of the aliens had me shaking a little bit!
Could you be also recommend a few generic alien invasion movies?
If you haven't seen it, District 9 is a good non-standard 'invasion' movie
you can watch skyline if you want to watch nothing new or interesting.
The concept of linguistics changing the way we understand the world is interesting but i cannot enjoy a movie that portrays other countries as unreasonable warmongers and incompetent while portraying the US as reasonable and brilliant.
The only heptapod killed in the film was killed by Americans...
Loved the movie! Such a great concept and so elegantly made. But the tagged on love story kind of took me out of it. Could almost hear the producers pushing that love story for wider audience appeal.
It happens in the short story too.
The producers got to the book too!?
No okay did not know that. So maybe my problem is with the general need to put love stories into stories. Or maybe it was written better in the book? Might have to read the book now
The original short story is called Story of your life, as from the point of view of Banks narrating it to her daughter.
No love story, no daughter, no Story of your life.
I suppose you could still have a story about aliens, and the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, and bootstrap paradoxes, but you wouldn't have this story, and probably wouldn't have the same emotional impact.
It'd be like taking the war out of Slaughterhouse-Five, if we're staying with the aliens and alien-related psychic time travel theme. Or the air out of a balloon.
I'm not sure how to spoiler tag so I'll be vague, but I think it was necessary to have her opt into that romance even though she knew there was a tragic ending to it.
The thing I remember about this movie was that India got mad one of the fictional aliens from this movie decided to land in Pakistan instead of India.
The other thing I remember was that they for some reason decided to show the location on the map as "Punjab, Pakistan" which is even more generic because it's a province not a city.
The other thing I remember was that they for some reason decided to show the location on the map as "Punjab, Pakistan" which is even more generic because it's a province not a city.
I could see India being upset over that because it's disputed territory. Edit: This is incorrect, Kashmir is the disputed territory.
No that's Kashmir.
Punjab is technically a region that also happens to be the name of the province in both Pakistan and India since they both encompass the same region.
Thanks, that second fact is what threw me off! So they could have said either and it should not have been seen as a political statement either way (which is how I saw India being upset over it.)
Yeah essentially.
India was just mad because of general rivalry lol
This was a good one. Definitely recommend
The best sound design team. I also love the ability of the visual design team to give a true feeling of scale and weight to things.
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