@Stormy86 said:

Good grief. I meant one day as in one day the pain will start. I know it wasn't just one day total. So you would take away all the other happy days she experienced before that? You would rather her not experience life at all? So I guess every person who has ever had some disease, etc., should never experience life if you have the ability to change it to where they would never be born at all? That's ridiculous.

Apples and oranges, NOT knowing is one thing, but KNOWING? And damn right I would, any parent would as you are the guardian you guard them from pain and suffering. Anybody who's seen loved ones especially children suffer and die, would trade their life, or never repeat that if given the option. "hey do you want to see your child suffer and die again, even though you have 5yrs of playing with them in the park?" "ummm sure 5yrs playing in the park is fun, who cares if they suffer and die for the whole next year"

It's the least bad Villeneuve film.

Dumb "boring"poster

any parent would as you are the guardian you guard them from pain and suffering.

I disagree. Its not a parent's job to guard a child from pain and suffering. Its their job to raise them, helping them find good values and become good, responsible people. All people suffer pain and suffering. That is known. Each and every person suffers. Hopefully, most also experience joy and happiness as well.

If the criterion is that you should not have a child if you know they are going to suffer; well that leads to all people should never have children because they will ALL suffer. There is no doubt about it.

@Costumers said:

If the criterion is that you should not have a child if you know they are going to suffer; well that leads to all people should never have children because they will ALL suffer. There is no doubt about it.

Not all child "suffer" and die, most grow up to be adults I'd say maybe over 90%? have some common sense, whatever this convoluted film didn't win much anyways as expected.

Why do you keep getting so agitated over anyone who has a different opinion from your own? Also, this is just a movie, as in no children were harmed in the making of this film. Tell you what, if we ever have Heptapods come to Earth, and they allow us to perceive time nonlinearly, and you foresee that your child is going to die some untimely death from a terrible disease, or whatever the heck it is, you can go ahead and cause the death of your child's existence by choosing to change the past by never having him/her be born at all, and everyone else who feels differently from you will still follow through with the birth of their children, and allow them to experience life.

@Stormy86 said:

Why do you keep getting so agitated over anyone who has a different opinion from your own? Also, this is just a movie, as in no children were harmed in the making of this film. Tell you what, if we ever have Heptapods come to Earth, and they allow us to perceive time nonlinearly, and you foresee that your child is going to die some untimely death from a terrible disease, or whatever the heck it is, you can go ahead and cause the death of your child's existence by choosing to change the past by never having him/her be born at all, and everyone else who feels differently from you will still follow through with the birth of their children, and allow them to experience life.

The last user said "ALL children suffer" not true most make it grow up and not die.. Anyways, Arrival fails, we don't get an answer to the whole point of the film why the aliens need our help and gave us the language gift. But since the film is so stylized over the child's death, and her personal life struggles it appeals to many who over look the alien huge cop out. This is why it didn't win the Oscar, I thought Manchester should have won, Moonlight was amazing, but the ending gave no answers, and they didn't even kiss.

@Badlands1

Yes, you are absolutely correct in that the majority of children make it to adulthood (and thank goodness for this), but what I think Costumers is getting at is that all people - whether it be an adult or child - suffer at various points of their life, because suffering is simply an inevitable aspect of life. And obviously someone can suffer and experience pain in many different ways, whether it be from a disease, losing a loved one, being abused (physically/mentally/verbally), etc, etc, etc.. But the big picture is looking at all the beautiful and happy moments in between the pain and suffering no matter what age a person is. And as for the movie, I respect that you didn't care for it. I personally loved it, but I understand why people wouldn't. I also didn't think it deserved best picture. I am very pleased Moonlight won. For me, it was always between Moonlight and Manchester By the Sea.

I so wanted to like this movie but I didn't. The emotion it was trying to elicit felt forced and generic. Some of the effects were good but some were pretty bad too. Feel like the most interesting aspects of the story and themes were hinted at and not explored. At the end I felt cheated!

The film isn't really about making contact with alien life. It's about accepting life and the hardship that comes with it . Amy Adams' character embraced her future despite the knowledge she will lose her daughter. It's hard to know if Arrival has a happy ending or a sad ending. Perhaps both? I think the story themes are fascinating.

@zag2me said:

I actually disagree with this, in a time when we are inundated with rubbish comic book movies, this was a welcome change and something that really worked for me. I was thinking all the way through about the story line and the suspense was there at all points. Overall I would say this was a great movie, but one for the thinkers of the world, not the people who just want mindless action.

I did not find the movie complex or deep at all, the plot was fairly simple and predictable; the movie forgettable. I'd honestly take Deadpool any day over this. The comparison is not a fair one as they're entirely different types of movies; Interstellar, Prometheus, Independence Day, or the Abyss even, would be better comparisons (all of which I think are superior movies FYI). I hate this type of high-nose mentality that classify action movies as mindless and they can never be good in their eyes because they're action movies and even poorly written and acted "artsy" films are better because they make you "think". Fifth Element, MIB, District 9, War of the Worlds; all better movies imo.

@incarnate1 I agree. And you are right in that District 9, Prometheus, and the Fifth Element are far better films.

@Stormy86 said: ...that all people - whether it be an adult or child - suffer at various points of their life, because suffering is simply an inevitable aspect of life. And obviously someone can suffer and experience pain in many different ways, whether it be from a disease, losing a loved one, being abused (physically/mentally/verbally), etc, etc, etc.. But the big picture is looking at all the beautiful and happy moments in between the pain and suffering no matter what age a person is.

I agree about that. When I read sentences about everybody will suffer.. I immediately think it was about people in general not just childs (because they can grow up and still suffer in some aspect of life, not only death or health issue is suffering..). But there're people take the words literally and argue about that. Anyway, that's normal, everyone has different taste and opinions.

@Earth said:

@Stormy86 said: ...that all people - whether it be an adult or child - suffer at various points of their life, because suffering is simply an inevitable aspect of life. And obviously someone can suffer and experience pain in many different ways, whether it be from a disease, losing a loved one, being abused (physically/mentally/verbally), etc, etc, etc.. But the big picture is looking at all the beautiful and happy moments in between the pain and suffering no matter what age a person is.

I agree about that. When I read sentences about everybody will suffer.. I immediately think it was about people in general not just childs (because they can grow up and still suffer in some aspect of life, not only death or health issue is suffering..). But there're people take the words literally and argue about that. Anyway, that's normal, everyone has different taste and opinions.

Absolutely. And yes, it does seem like there are some viewers who have viewed this film with a bit of tunnel vision.

@Badlands1 said:

[@Stormy86] Do you take away someones's existence on Earth, and the time you would share with them just because one day they will feel pain, etc.?

It's not one day of pain, it's months of pain, suffering, chemotherapy, radiation, etc. Then eventual choking and suffocation, no parent would subject their child to that. I guess you're not a parent. That ruined the movie for me to, oh it won't win the Oscar anyways.

Humans will always believe that they can change the future. If she decided to tell her husband that in the future the child will die from cancer I am sure they would try to change the future so it wouldn't happen. Maybe conceive at a different time, use artificial insemination etc. Maybe it isn't possible to change the future. That is one of the themes of the movie. The other is working together so find a solution instead of all the division that exists in the world.

The aliens and their 3000 year problem isn't actually important and you shouldn't get hung up on this. Maybe you could watch Independence Day because that has a "proper" ending.