EARLY ACCESS: Arrival FULL REACTION

such an amazing collab! can't believe I missed it until now!

Mister Lou

Hi, Kevin. Please explain how my "WILD" idea to save orphans instead of making more babies is devaluing life. There are countless kids dying of diarrhea & pneumonia and most people don't care to help. They'd rather use their own DNA to create their own child. While a toddler is plucking maggots out of their parents' bodies, some people are out there spending 100k on in vitro, fertility treatments, etc. because they want their babies to be like them. I invite them to tell that toddler just how much they value life. And in the case of the movie, I think the point is up for interpretation because the concepts of free will vs. determinism, time travel, existence, etc. are still philosophical debate topics. Perhaps you are implying that I don't understand the movie because I don't share your interpretation of it? We all view movies from our own biases, including you.

Lena

It's an interesting opinion to devalue life so much Lena that you would call it a selfish choice because she knew daughter was going to die, that she shouldn't even have a chance to live at all. No matter how short her time is on this earth. People die everyday, and some live even shorter lives. To just say she shouldn't "create a new child" and adopt one is WILD statement to me. You're also assuming things the movie didn't tell you. That's why I think you missed the point of the movie. At least from the sci-fi aspect of it. It's not that her daughter "doesn't exist yet. She sees time in a non-linear fashion now. She's not having visions of the future, she's literally jumping between time. So her daughter does already exist to her. She already has those moments and love for Hannah. To go through that and decide Hannah doesn't deserve to leave her mark on the world and know the love of her mother would be a harsh thing to do as parent. That's why I understand Louise's decision. It's a complex situation that I think you're trying to apply basic human logic too, which doesn't apply in this particular situation. At the same time, it's such a human concept to judge something that we have no real understanding of. Just goes to show how truly different we all are as a species. No matter how you feel, it's an extremely thought provoking movie which is what makes it so great.

Kevin C

I had never seen this movie until yesterday, and I immediately came today to see if you guys had a reaction to it. Mind blowing! Incredible.

Jenna

I took Ian saying that Louise made the wrong choice as he thought she shouldn't have told him she can see the future and that their daughter was going to get sick. I think he preferred not to know the future.

Mariah Lovegood

Why not have dozens of babies then if you are murdering everyone you don't give birth to? It doesn't make sense. You can't murder something that doesn't exist. She had a choice whether to conceive or not - that was the whole point of the movie. You also have a choice to have a baby every year of your reproductive life - is every woman murdering someone every month she isn't pregnant? You're right, that's my subjective opinion to save a homeless child rather than create a new child who will die in 13-14 years. Maybe that's not objectively right, but it makes sense to me.

Lena

Because that isn't the best option. That's what you think the best option is, but it's hypocritical of you to claim that they're wrong for choosing their own offspring, but you're not wrong for choosing to adopt. You're placing an arbitrary right and wrong on each of these based on your views, but you have no *actual* metric by which to declare them right and wrong. You're simply *saying* that one is right and one is wrong. I can do the inverse of what you're doing and we're still in the exact same spot. The abortion example is exactly accurate. Both of these examples are cases of making sure someone doesn't get to exist. Abortion is making sure they don't get to exist past the womb, while doing it through the time stream's foreknowledge means they don't get to exist beyond the purely theoretical stage. Both examples end in the same result as murder: the individual in question doesn't exist anymore.

Marco Gutierrez

Nobody knows what someone else's life will be like, but bringing someone into the world and knowing they won't have a chance to live is messed up to me. It has nothing to do with abortion because you can't abort what doesn't exist yet, unless you count egg removal. And you speak of suicide like it's just an easy choice anyone can make, even though it goes against our biggest instinct to survive. Most people want to live, even with suffering - but if we can prevent a life that will definitely include high amounts of suffering, why wouldn't you? And, again, the best option would be to find a life that is already born, already suffering, and rescue that one - otherwise known as adoption.

Lena

The issue with this thought is that you don't know any better either. I've always hated this utilitarian look at people's lives. Like our lives are only worth living if we experience a minimal amount of suffering. If that was the case, then third would countries would be seeing the greatest suicide rates out of anywhere, but they aren't. If Hannah thought her life wasn't worth living, then she would have killed herself. I hear this same kind of argument used to justify abortion as well and it's just wrong. Every life has value, even/especially lives that nobody else wants or cares about. You aren't worthless just because nobody else loves you or actively wants you to exist.

Marco Gutierrez

Great reactions and responses to the movie's question and themes! I like how the film created a funky ride that, in the end, makes the viewer explore, from a different persepctive, their own parenting feelings and thougts! I also like the cool symbologies for 'different perspective' - such as visually mixing up-and-down, and narratively mixing before-and-after!

Jay

love you guys... just sub for you 4 tho... not the guests

James Ventola

Thank you. And thanks again for your insightful, entertaining reactions.

Sophia Eunice Mattice-Aldous

To your question: How do we know Hannah felt any differently? We don't know - that's the point. We shouldn't be making decisions for others, especially children who are not even conceived yet. If you were told that you could press a button, and that means somewhere in the world, somebody would be born, live their lives until they were 15 and then die a painful death, would you do it? If your answer is no, then why is it okay because you happen to love this person? If your answer is yes, I would ask why you think you know better than that person that actually has to live that life.

Lena

As a language nerd, I love that they made an alien movie where the linguist is the hero! Haha! And she's right. The language we speak shapes the way we see the world. Like how in English we say "time is money" and we use words for time that treat it like a commodity. You can SPEND time, WASTE time, TAKE time, GIVE something /someone your time. Other cultures whose languages talk about time differently may have a fundamentally different understanding of it. And I find that FASCINATING! Glad you guys like this one; it's quite a ride. ...not an action-packed ride like most alien movies, but an emotional and intellectually-stimulating ride nonetheless.

Megan the Librarian

I'm not sure I agree. First of all, I'm not sure how changeable the future is. Like could she have even made a different choice? But that quandry aside, I've never lost a child, but I know people who have, and many of them would say that they would rather have had and loved that child and lost them, than never had them in their lives at all. I think in seeing the future, Louise already loved her daughter so much, and saw what joy she brought to Ian too, that she couldn't imagine a world where Hannah never existed. She knew what joy Hannah would bring to the world, even if it was brief. We all die (and no human lives very long in the grand scheme of things). Does that mean it would be better for us to have never existed at all? I think knowing we only have each other for a limited time makes us appreciate each other more and makes that time we have together more precious. Maybe we should all live more like Louise. If I knew I was going to die next week, I would rather have had the time I got than not lived at all. How do we know Hannah felt any differently? (Totally get where you're coming from; just philosophising here because this movie makes me feel things!) :)

Megan the Librarian

I don't think Sicario is on the list. We'll add that.

Badd Medicine

Such a great movie. I def recommend Denis Villeneuve's other works like Prisoners and Sicario

Didn't think of it like that. Good to have this different perspective. Makes one think a little deeper.

Badd Medicine

Yeah.... its not close to Independence Day at all. lol. It was a wild finish and they just hit you with all the emotion.

Badd Medicine

Thank you for sharing this! So sorry that happened!

Badd Medicine

The problem with Louise's choice is that it was a selfish choice. She didn't take into account how her husband would feel or how her daughter would feel having her life stripped away from her. She should have adopted a child who needed parents instead of creating a child who would suffer unimaginable pain and face her death too early.

Lena

Love this movie and your reaction. I thought it was really funny how you compared it to Independence Day several times even though I'd say this movie is the exact opposite take on the same topic. In ID everything is cheesy and schlocky, everyone is cracking jokes and everything is blowing up whereas here everything is slow and methodical, emotional and philosophical. Stories like this where the Sci-Fi elements are tools used to tell a story that's really about the human condition is where the genre got started and where it is at its best. Too bad today it's mostly "lasers and pew-pew" and that can be fun but it's great to see a movie not do that.

u_mike

Welcome, Mr. & Mrs. Flicks! It was nice to have you here; I hope you come back for another reaction some time. 😊 This was a truly special reaction from Badd Medicine. The way you all delve into the story and keep open minds and curiosity makes you all refreshing reactors to watch. And not to make anyone uncomfortable, but the conversation around what would you do if you knew your future hit me in the feels. It’s not the same as losing a child, but years ago the man I thought I would spend the rest of my life with died in a car accident. In the months and years following, I asked myself if I knew he was going to die, would I have gotten together with him and instead chosen to avoid that pain? I finally realized that he would have died either way. Instead of not being with him I would’ve chosen to love him better.

Sophia Eunice Mattice-Aldous

First watch... Definitely is a mind bend

Badd Medicine

Starts next week

Badd Medicine

Any time frame on the kinsman movies?

jace Z

The reveal of Louise’s acceptance of her future even knowing that she would lose her child to cancer and her husband/marriage because of her choice to have the child only emphasizes why the aliens gave her, and only her, the gift/ability to see the future. Knowing the outcome doesn’t diminish the journey. I have rewatched this movie many times and still get wrapped up in the whole timeline / how & when you would actually know that you “knew” that was your future… still hurts my head. Great insight and reaction!!!

Laura Wall

This was a nice surprise

Badd Medicine

I just finished watching the reaction- I cried hearing Oak's take. Just such a beautiful and mind blowing movie.

Jorreca

Seeing the Oak's comments now, this is an extremely emotional movie. And honestly I think it may be as much or moreso and just as good a movie watching it again. The rest is spoilery so anyone reading who hasn't watched yet is warned- The whole movie is written/set up like the structure of the alien language, but I think the way it makes the most sense for me is to think of it as a ripple in a smooth pond (time), with the pebble hitting the pond at the moment she is in front of the aliens and realizing she understands them. The ripples of the effect, being able to experience time non-linearly, go in both directions forward and backward in time and the further from that point the less clear they are to her. At the start she is entirely confused about the 'memories' shes having flashes of as shes starting to lose her hold on a 'now'. On what 'now' even means. The audience is confused in the same way she is about what those 'memories' are at the start, but it leaves us to make the wrong assumption about why it's effecting her.

RocktSurgeon

absolutely one of my favorite movies! super excited to see how yall liked it

K

This was wild!

Badd Medicine

Hope you enjoy! 🤘

Badd Medicine

I've been waiting for this drop for a hot minute. One of my fave movies!

Jorreca

Such a brilliant movie, just really masterful/intricate story. Watching it again, the whole thing is recontextualized and it feels like a different movie.

RocktSurgeon

That was a fun one!

Badd Medicine

excited about this, I loved the Power Rangers reaction you did with them.

Curtis Rice