spoilers ahead I felt like the character conflict arcs were contrived and ultimately the idea of learning a language makes you a pre-cog fell flat for me. In science fiction, the big idea goes ‘woo!’ or the characters go ‘woo!’ but in the case of Arrival, nothing really went ‘woo!’
But maybe I’m wrong - what was I missing about Arrival?
Subjective indeed. I seriously doubt you could find 100 sci-fi movies I’d rate above Arrival. I don’t think it’s the best sci-fi film of the century or anything, but top 20 almost certainly.