timusathem28

Quite a bad movie here.

As others have pointed out, typical low quality 90s production, made worse by a very very bad plot, incredibly poor acting by Dino Morea (he is one of the worst) and terrible dialogue.

The only saving grace is the leading ladies' sizzling on screen presence.

Arrival is a beautifully layered approach to the typical sci-fi theme. Much like Adams' character Dr.Banks chiding the scientific Donelly on starting with the basics of communication, the movie seems to be lecturing the genre about the inordinate focus on how aliens look, what their materials are etc and not asking the more basic questions. It conveniently allows the plot to avoid answering those questions, and it works as the viewer is able to suspend judgement on those points.

But in focusing on the broader narratives it's let down by the more simple storytelling detail, such as the initial scenes of Whitaker meeting Adams, and the incredulity of Adams learning the aliens language.