The first half is surprisingly good. They realistically make you feel the epicness of suddenly finding aliens on earth and the fear that comes with it. It deals well with the questions that would come up in that situation- what is their purpose, how to communicate, how to establish an accurate basis of communication, what about outerspace contagions, how did they get there, what is their technology, should humans "show force" and take the offensive (NO). The movie made me think humans would totally screw alien contact up if it were real.
The second half gets into more time-wharpy things which is interesting enough to watch but not as engrossing. Plus, I can't really agree with the theory at the basis of the film- language determinism to the extent that our vision of time would change so drastically if only we understood the world through a different language. It would certainly have a less drastic impact though and it's interesting to think about.
Have to say I still have issues with the ending. Getting information from the future that was used in the past but the past hasn't happened yet. Say the beginning is the ending but where did she get the information she used?
It's a story about aliens but also a mother's love which makes it a little bit of a tear jerker. (Maybe it was just those damn violins in the soundtrack.) I still kind of wish for more in the human-alien relations department. Their just vanishing cut off that aspect of the story. Plus, how does their gift end up affecting humanity?
The dad's abandonment isn't explained enough... makes it sader, more bitter.
I never would have thought this would be my favorite movie of the year but it was.
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