This was a joy to watch! Loved your discussion at the end.

One of the things I love about this movie is how empathetic it is. It doesn't demonize even the aggressive Chinese general. In the end he is not a cold man. What changes his mind is not a military secret, but a deeply human thing: his wife's last words.

Imagine KNOWING the worst thing is going to happen to you, but allowing it to happen anyway. It’s the journey she embraced, not the destination. She welcomed it all.

If you're wondering what she told the general during her phone call, it was "there are no winners in war, only widows". Profound stuff.

Such a masterpiece on EVERY level, crafted with restraint, balance and love.

The film's use of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is a principle suggesting that the structure of a language affects its speakers' worldview or cognition, and thus people's perceptions are relative to their spoken language. Learning a new language can affect one person’s cognitive perception; hence, the alien language allowed Louise Banks to perceive time in a non-linear fashion.

Max Richter’s “On The Nature of Daylight” is absolutely beautiful and is used perfectly in this film.

The gift was their language, that allows to comprehend time. There's a theory, a real one, that explain like learning another language, completely changes how your brain wires, and constructs and sees the world. For me the pungent subject is about her daughter, and how an ARRIVAL is more important than a departure.... Nice one guys.

I really hope to see Alex Garland's "Annihilation" on the playlist, I think that's an absolutely incredible film, really excited to see what he does in the future.

The film starts to really shine once you start understanding the concepts. Then you watch it again with that understanding and it hits even harder. It's just a damn near perfect movie. Thematically, visually, and performance-wise, it's just an impressive feat.

I love the scene where she has a dream of the aliens. It may seem like a cheap jump scare but the director explained that a sign of you starting to really understand a language is when you start dreaming with it.

This movie is so beautiful on so many levels. My husband and I watched it this past summer together (we’d both seen it before) and talked about if we knew our daughter was going to die, would we still want to have her to avoid the pain? And we both agreed without hesitation that we’d have her to be able to enjoy every moment we could with her and to feel that love. It’s just such a good movie. It presents as an alien movie, but it’s really about so much more

The nonlinear time in this movie is used with perfection. Knowing all the pain she will experience but she keeps on her trajectory just for the moments of happiness she does get. Imagine being able to live within all your life's moments

If this movie taught me anything it is that you can play On the Nature of Daylight over literally any scene and it will because the saddest thing I have ever watched. Such a powerful score.

I love this movie, it's very interesting idea of time. If you knew your future has sorrow and personal pain, would you still go through it? That's such a hard question to answer because people, humans don't really think in the past or future just in the present. Ian, I think his name is, chose to separate himself because he can't deal with the knowledge of future loss. That's a human reaction, avoiding of the issue. The thing is even though their future is filled with sorrow and loss there's also love, joy which I think that's life. That's my opinion at least

It was downright criminal that Amy Adams was snubbed for an Oscar for thi movie...her performance was downright brilliant and it remains one of the best sci-fi movies of all time for me...and one of the few ones which looks at alien contact in a much more realistic and empathetic way kinda like Contact rather than a war with aliens type shit we usually get

This movie is based on Ted Chiangs short story "Story of your Life". I recommend reading it, it's very good! He's one of the best and most original scifi writers today.

It's believed that British settlers asked the native North Americans what their land was called, and they answered Kanata (or home in their language). The British not understanding called the land Canada.

Arrival is one of the few modern film that I can watch anytime I see it on TV. Perfectly structured, paced and the emotional punch at the end gets your every time

General Shang's wife's last words that he relays to Louise to tell himself are "In war there are no winners, only widows."

One of my favorite movies of all time partly influenced by the fact that I saw it shortly after my daughter died. I I went in expecting a fun sci-fi romp, and ended up having to be helped out of the theater. Still love the movie though.

Oh here we go! I’m a 40 year old single dad of daughters that are my everything and this movie gets me in tears every time I see it! 💔💓 missing my baby now terrible, so here we go!

Oh dude I love when you guys watch sci-fi, and you started it out with a BANGER. I was SO relieved that neither of you had seen this before reacting to it, though I would have watched the video either way! Can't wait to see what other sci-fi films are on the menu. Cheers!

The Nature of Daylight's inclusion in the film is the reason why the film didn't get a Best Score Oscar nod. All the rest of the music was by Johann Johannsson (RIP), but the Academy ruled that the score was "diluted by the use of pre-existing music" (their words). The same thing happened to Johnny Greenwood's score for "There Will Be Blood." JJ also scored "Sicario" & "Prisoners" for DV.

Nominated for 8 Oscars including Best Picture, but won for Best Sound Mixing. The twist at the end was unexpected! It was like watching 2001: A Space Odyssey all over again!

Lads I'm SOOOO happy you watched this. This is in my top 5 films of all time, so emotional and so so clever.

Absolutely love this movie. The reveal towards the end blew my mind, and it was crying in the theater. This, Blade Runner 2049, Prisoners, and DUNE, are why Denis is my top director of all time.

This is one of my comfort movies. I've lost count of how many times I've watched this. Amy Adams is exceptional in this film. There are moments within her performance where she envelops you emotionally. She captures you in the most subtle of her movements. And I love how the first time we are shown Agent Halpern's satellite phone is when we first hear about General Shang, setting up the scene near the end of the film where Louise uses that phone to call Shang. There is so much to rediscover upon rewatch once you know the whole story. And the musical bookends of Max Richter's "On The Nature Of Daylight" is as perfect an existing musical choice as a film can make. There have been many a morning where I listen to that musical piece while making a cup of tea and getting ready to start my day.

Probably the most affecting, touching, thoughtful sci-fi movie in a long while. It's beautiful cinematography, but a light and deft touch in the themes. And it made me cry.. so good.

Soundtrack is phenomenal. What a tragic loss for music, the death of Johansson. I still listen the tracks "Kangaru" and "Flight from the City" by him. I agree on the heaviness of this film. The loss that is to come... Good video again guys. Thank you. 👏☕

Arrival has been my favourite Sci-Fi movie in recent years next to Interstellar. Amazing concept. And I got some „The Mist“ vibes when I first saw the aliens. Thanks for choosing it as the first movie in your Sci-Fi playlist! Totally unrelated, but P-L-E-A-S-E consider “Requiem for a Dream” for a future reaction. I watched it last weekend and am still blown away by this masterpiece! Definitely one of the heaviest and saddest dramas out there, it features an Oscar-nominated performance by Ellen Burstyn (she should have won) and also has Jared Leto and Jennifer Connelly in equally impressive roles. And there’s lots of inspiration for aspiring filmmakers when it comes to creative editing techniques. I won’t even touch on the amazing soundtrack here, but this film truly is a piece of art! I’ve been following you guys since the early days of your Horror Classics playlist in 2020, and from what I’ve learned, I’m sure both of you will appreciate it. I predict Tom will rate it an 8.x and Shaun will even go as high as 9.x. Prove me wrong or thank me later. Love your channel! 😊

This is my favorite movie of all time. I cannot think of another film to touch me so deeply. Dune is probably a close second, but seeing Arrival has always touched me and seeing everyone’s reactions to this wonderful film is as touching as if I were watching it again for the first time.

Arrival is his best in my opinion (BR2049 a close second) but his filmography is… insane. You have to check out Enemy and Sicario as well.

i love that the general's wife dying words were "in war there are no winners, only widows"

Regarding your sci-fi playlist, if Dark City isn't on it this year, I am begging you both to react to it at some point. It is an absolute mind-blowing experience. I promise that you won't be disappointed.

Such a gorgeous film. This actually gives me a bit of hope for humanity.

This is a film you really need to watch twice. All those scenes with her looking confused as we're shown shots of her daughter--that's her seeing the future. You assume it's her looking back on memories of her dead daughter but none of that happened until after the aliens left. I've seen it 3 times and each time caught something I'd missed before. It's a beautiful film. The writers are brilliant.

Among my favorite sf movies of the 2010s. Favorites from each decade: 1950s: The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951, d. Robert Wise) 1960s: 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, d. Stanley Kubrick) 1970s: Stalker (1979, d. Andrei Tarkovsky) 1980s: Bladerunner (1982, d. Ridley Scott) 1990s: Dark City (1998, d. Alex Proyas) 2000s: Primer (2004, d. Shane Carruth)

I adore this film. Such a different view on an alien invasion.

Fantastic film and masterpiece soundtrack.

The nature of daylight is amazing. ❤❤ One thing that's really heartbreaking once you know the twist is the beginning sequence. When the main character sees her child on the day she's born, she KNOWS at her birth and in every moment after that her daughter is going to die. It makes it so much more poignant. The main character says the same words to her baby as she does to her dead child.

This is one of my favourite films of all time!

I love that you said, "I thought there was just going to be one." My theory about this movie is that - there is just one ship, in many different places at once.

You guys should do a reaction to Akira, if you're starting Sci-Fi. Hugely philosophical and abstract and even surrealist at times. And above all, it's got some of the best animations ever.

You didn't discuss this, but one of the most interesting ideas the movie brings up is about bringing a child into the world when you KNOW they're going to die young. It's so tragic and beautiful and really sets ARRIVAL a step above most other sci-fi stories out there.

Watch the 2009 movie *District 9* by Neill Blomkamp. It's an aliens movie, but the plot is stunning

3 seconds in, she's saying "come back to me" & the tears are already welling up.

If you want another movie where On The Nature of Daylight is used amazingly, Shutter Island used the music beautifully

The structure of the aliens, that they looked like a seven-legged octopus, I think is part of the theme of cycles and circularity. Much like their language, they exhibit radial symmetry (if you divide them lengthwise by a mirror and slowly turn it on its axis, the image is the same). The general's wife's dying words translate to "In war, there are no winners. Only widows."

Denis Villeneuve makes AMAZING movies, often ones that require you to think. Arrival, Blade Runner 2049, Sicario, Prisoners and ESPECIALLY the underrated one: Enemy with Jake Gyllenhaal. I cannot recommend them enough, seriously. Since you've seen Arrival, I hope you do eventually get to Sicario, Prisoners and Enemy, as they are absolutely amazing.

The General's wife’s last words are “In war there are no winners, only widows.”

My algorithm worked wonders with your channel popping up, happened after I watched ‘Come and See’, after which I needed to see other reactions and thoughts - most terrifying film I’ve seen for a long time. I’m currently only watching your videos where I’ve already seen the film, but will watch the films and come back to the rest. Arrival is iconic, such a good script, had the feeling of dread and hope filling every scene…Villeneuve is a genius. Here’s a couple of recommendations of his other work that you NEED to see: Incendies - probably his strongest work in my opinion, it is long, but worth every minute and the ending will blow your mind. Dune - this is sci-if at its best, obviously a big budget for this, but it brought everything to the screen that Dune has to offer in the books. Hands down the best Sci-Fi film of the decade imo. Enjoying the content lads, keep it up!

One of the best science fiction movies of the current century... and two others are from this same director. Keep 'em coming, Denis! I'm completely on-board!

It's also like Interstellar in that both are about voices from the future sending a message back to save humanity, so that humanity can secure the future.

Oh this is gone be good. I have a feeling you'll love it.

This film brings to mind an old Carpenters song “Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft (The Recognized Anthem of World Contact Day) “. “We are your friends…and We’d like to make contact with you.”

This was one of the best movies i’ve ever watched in my life. When i got this movie from the library i put off watching it and i only decided to watch it before it was overdue. I was absolutely blown away.

23:12 loved that comparison 👌

Arrival is basically *the* movie for linguistics nerds. When it came out, my linguistics department at university was completely obsessed. :D

your comments about not sure if you can watch again knowing the outcome is a common problem with films with twists - the law of diminishing returns if you will - but this is where all the quality of the fabric of the film is so important - watching it again you revel in the cinematography, the design, the soundscape etc. you see new things and can explore new ways of understanding certain aspects of characters, dialogue, decisions made or not made. There have been a few films which play with your perception of time over the decades and once you have seen a few you wise up pretty quickly to any new one that comes along - which is why it's always a joy to see people like yourselves experiencing these things for the first or second time. One film you should watch that explores this in it's own way is the Wachowski's "Cloud Atlas" from 2012. Very under-rated and hardly seen let alone talked about. With an Amazing cast. A couple of things made me wince or gripe - first I really hate your pre-amble every time stating the objective of watching every film ever made. Do you have any idea how many have been made? in every country? what defines a film? the earliest films were seconds long. 5 minute shorts win oscars but are they a film? could you watch a film from Mongolia with no sub-titles? What about documentaries? the only way to watch early documentaries was at the cinema but would you class them as a "film" - Every film student has to watch early documentaries and appreciate their worth and understanding - eg Nanook of the North (1922 - so yes silent!) the British documentary was world renowned in the 1930's and 1940's from the GPO and then the Crown Film Unit. Then you know the vast majority of films made on Nitrate stock have been lost forever? We only have a tiny amount of films from the 1920's survive out of how many were made, even les for the 1910's and bare any from before that. You will never see thousands of films from those eras because they no longer exist. Please read about the huge Fox vault fire of 1937 to appreciate how many films have been lost forever from this and other tragedies. Second - referring to these aliens as octopus when they clearly kept saying Heptoids - Hept means 7. Oct means 8. sorry but my pedantry just really kicked in then! Other than that - really glad you liked and appreciated the film 🙂

Fun facts: the scenery where the ship is located is super close from my hometown in Québec, Canada ! It was mostly made in Montréal and its surroundings too :)

The use of tense (past, present and future) in the short story that the movie was adapted from (if you guys can read it) adds another layer to the story. Because in the movie, you're curious what's going on and it's still a fairly linear story. But in the book, Louise's learning of their language affects how she thinks, so there'll be parts like, "I remember what it'll be like watching you when you are a day old". That's like all the tenses in one sentence (I remember reminisces on the past; what it'll be like is future; and when you are a day old is present).This is a mess of a comment but Ted Chiang wrote the story with so much complexity and you're already sobbing knowing the kid is going to die but following Louise on her journey anyway. Idk, it's just fascinating

The lost of Jóhann Jóhannsson it's a tragedy. I can only think of Mica Levi and Hildur Guðnadóttir doing the kind of music he was doing, nowadays. I absolutely love this edgy kind of score. Him working on this movie was match made in heaven.

"I don't understand, who is this child?" That reveal is so good!

Arrival is one of my favourite sci fi movies. Thanks for choosing it. I’ve been watching different channels react to it, And one thing I was hoping someone would comment on was - How on earth did they get back down after being in the ship? Do they jump down to the platform and hope they don’t miss?🤔 And finally, after watching at least 15 others react - you were the first ones to bring this up. Two thumbs up, guys 👍🏼👍🏼

War of the Worlds (2005) from Steven Spielberg, with Tom cruise You guys would like. Also should do Jeepers Creepers 2 someday. 😊

Saw this in the theater and I don't think a single person spoke a word for the last fifteen minutes. The Chinese general's wife's last words were "There are no winners in wars, only widows."- which I think is a deep cut for him to reconsider his position. Asking the women in my life if they would have Hannah, knowing she's doomed to die young, it's not a easy call to make. Lots of moral quandaries. Looove the alien designs and how they're so advanced that their technology looks primative. They obviously wanted people to work together- each ship is like the section of an orange- only making a sphere when put together.

The music score in this is SO beautiful!!! This was filmed in Montana and thst valley where the clouds/fog roll over the mountains do that all the time. Beautiful!!!!!!❤️

Story by SF writer extraordinaire Ted Chiang, who combines futurism and science with philosophy and heart

RIP Johan Johansson - such a brilliant composer. The music is a character in this movie. He also did the music for 'Sicario' which should be on your list. : )

Have watched this film several times now and it just gets better with each watch! Its such a beautiful and emotional movie. I love how the film hangs on in your mind for days after too

22:30 Yep! Not only is it a well made, acted and thought out movie it is a very satisfying movie 🙂

This is my favorite movie of all time. I got 'Louise sees future' in heptapod language tattooed on my arm.

Anyone else thinking about the Tralfamadorians from SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE? "And so it goes"

Great reaction and I agree with your ratings, even though I too probably couldn't watch this one again. Hope you've got Annihilation on the list! Amazing sci fi movie, which will haunt your minds forever. It's on Netflix right now too.

I also watched Arrival today and saw it a few years back in cinema when it came out, great experience. Awesome Movie with an beautiful Look and of course sounddesign from Johannsson. Sad that he past away a few years ago. I prefer Arrival over Blade Runner. The look and overall production of BR is stunning but i like Arrival more as film itself. Take a look at ,Ex Machina, and also ,Sunshine, from Alex Garland :-)

Thanks for pointing out the score!!! I’ve been trying to remember where I heard it for years!!!

Absolutely one of my favourite movies of all time. As something of an amateur philologist, I found the subject matter utterly fascinating & the perfect vehicle of transmission for the alien motive and their literal arrival here. Ecstatic that you guys gave it a watch and you enjoyed it. Great reaction 👍🏻

I love this movie so much. It gets better each time I watch it, and I've watched it at least 20 times. The aliens knew that one of them would die, but they also knew that Louise was gonna figure it all out, so they made the choice to save her and Ian. It's really movie about communication, working together, and the decisions we make, with a sidebar involving first contact with aliens.

The guy on the right is very smart and the guy on the right is very sensitive. I also had to wait some years to watch the movie again, I cry so much every time my head hurts afterwards.

I'm so glad I subscribed to you guys bc I got about 7mins into this video, but got so intrigued that I had to pause and go watch it for myself first. So THANKS for the recommendation. That movie was fascinating & I had a great time with it

I was so excited when his came out. How often is a linguist a main character? I saw it several time in the theatre. I have an MA in Linguistics so I had to explain parts to my friends and family.

Yes! I will die for this movie. I love it so much and I never have the right words to describe exactly why. Just so good.

I just LOVE this movie, and I really appreciate your thoughtful reaction / discussion. For me, this is the inverse of Independence Day. That movie is simple, fast-paced, action-packed American exceptionalism. Aliens are evil and humans are good. It is a common enemy that united the world. Humanity succeeds because it is human. Arrival is slow and deep, cerebral, complex. Aliens are not evil at all, and the humans react out of fear. Faced with the unknown, humanity splits, panics, and resorts to violence. Humanity succeeds in spite of being human. Brilliant.

I'm a scifi fan for over 60 years. This is one of my favs. Brilliant, clever, well done. I put this film in league with the original "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951). Your reaction was perfect. I knew about a third of the way in, that you were going to get it. And you did. I've watched this movie several times, but your honest reaction to it, made me feel like I was watching it for the first time with some buddies. Well done.

One of my favorite sci-fi movies is Sunshine. It kind of flew under the radar for how great it was and how star studded a cast it had. I highly recommend it

Ex Machina is a great Sci Fi flick if you haven't seen it!

I love Max Richters Nature of Daylight ❤️ So beautiful and is set as my daily alarm 😊 This film is amazing with a beautiful message about hope & humanity - it sits with you for ages. Great review lads 👍

Loved Arrival when I saw it and every time I think about it again I think of something new. Just now I realized that with this gift you can only see as far into the future as you are going to be alive, so for a human only about another 70 years into the future. For the aliens to see 3000 years into the future they either must live that long naturally or they found a way to extend life or be in suspension. Then I thought if you had that gift you too would want to extend life and given how hard that would be you might instead work to be able to do some sort of suspension of life and reanimation and have some sort of "oracle" who agrees to be put down and then resucitated every decade or so to be briefed on events and then have that go on for centuries so that the early version of them can see much further into the future.

This is such a good movie - thanks for watching/review. Science Fiction? War of the Worlds (1953), The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957), The Fly (1958), Dr. Cyclops (1940), Fantastic Voyage (1966) are a few you should add to your list.

great reaction, you really paid attention and understood it, which is so refreshing to watch haha, new sub:)

So excited! Love this movie. It just won a movie tournament on Film Joy's channel last month. I love sci-fi 💗

"Get your goddamn egg outta here!" That should be a movie line.

What a trip, no doubt, one of the most intelligent sci fi movies ever, it's deep, philosophical and actually plausible. Great reaction guys, it's like watching movies for the first time again.

This was a really fun watch. When you listed the Villeneuve films you've seen, I noticed that you didn't mention my favourite. Which is why I have to ask you to, pretty please, with sugar on top, watch Sicario. 🙂

It may because I have a daughter, or just because the film is made so incredibly well, but I wept when I finished this amazing movie. What an amazing experience it was.

Tje most amazing part to me was that as she was learning the language, she was infact timetravelling or seeing the future with her conscious, so what we thought were flashbacks were the future and time as we discovered was not linear and that's why at times she would seem confused because she was time travelling all because she was learning their language. The aliens themselves said they came to give this to humanity to help them from probably probably coming tragedy and it still mind fucks me today that its just their language is the key. Thanks for reacting to this. Was a delight to watch and I wish more people would watch this too.

I absolutely love this movie. It’s my favorite Denis Villeneuve movie, I think it’s brilliant; great performances, great script, great score, beautifully shot, emotional. This is the kind of sci fi movie that I wish more directors would chose to make instead of just cgi and boring scripts.

Such a great movie & reaction. I've seen this movie a few times but I got chills when you both realized that her daughter was in the future. Then the rest of the movie/reaction was kind of emotional. A first instinct to react with suspicion & fear rather than empathy and understanding, reminds me of what's going on in the world today.

You guys seriously need to watch the rest of DV's work, asap. Incendies, Enemy, Sicario.. all incredible.