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?
As a communications student (at the time when it was released), I was stoked that they explored the idea of language shaping the culture/way of thinking of a species. It was amazing to see such a concept applied to sci-fi, especially since it’s not really a science-y topic.
Aside from that, I just didn’t expect that the story would unfold the way it did, since I wasn’t aware of the short story it was based on when I first watched it.