Arrival Review: 10 Reasons It's An Instant Classic
9. It Has An Incredibly Strong Point Of View
Not to sound like a broken record (I think I've talked about this topic every week like clockwork), but 2016 has been a year dominated by post production meddling and shoddy editing. The main effect of this has been movies with no coherent pacing and a complete disregard of the three-act structure, but an underlying problem to all this has been confused perspective, with no clear relatable character and random, nonsensical flashbacks and dream sequences.
I'm unsublty referencing DC there not to kick the Snyderverse down any more, but because the erratic structure of Batman V Superman is a perfect comparison point for Arrival. It too enters into copious flashbacks and unclear dream sequences, often at random, but there's a clear and rather pertinent reason presented within the narrative for it to do so.
What could have been a global, multi-stranded narrative is told almost exclusively from the perspective of Louise, with every timeline divergence occurring within her psyche, which further allows the film to come together into an extremely personal finale.