8 Movies That Fooled Us Twice

Arrival is a sci-fi alien encounter flick played with a spin. Following linguist Louise Banks, it tells the story of several spacecraft that come into orbit around Earth. One that hovers over Montana in the United States is piloted by two aliens, who the humans come into contact with and try to begin to understand the language of.

As Louise works, she begins to have flashbacks to the death of her terminally ill daughter.

Meanwhile, the phrase “use weapon” is deciphered from the alien’s mission statement. Acting as you would expect humans to, paranoia and fear gets the better of the world’s military and a bomb detonates on the Montana spacecraft.

When Louise makes it back on board to find one of the aliens dying, she’s hit with two huge bombshells. The “weapon” that the aliens spoke of was their own language, which should humans be able to adapt it would give them a non-linear view of time. The intention is that the aliens help them, and humans return the favour in 3000 years when their species is under duress.

If the surprising “we come in peace” message wasn’t enough in a world of cinema where aliens are something to be feared, it all suddenly explains Louise’s strange visions. She never had a daughter, but she will and her flashbacks are visions of the future.