Corrected entry: The Heptapods, it is learned late in the film, have a totally different perception of time. The Heptapods see the past, present and future simultaneously (Heptapods can see at least 3000 years in the future). Only late in the film does Louise realise that learning the Heptapod language has changed the way she thinks; and she, too, starts to perceive the future (even using information from the future to stop a war in the present). Major problem. If the Heptapods can perceive the future like this, then they should already be able to communicate in human languages rather easily, having already seen first contact and 3000 years thereafter, which negates about 90% of the plot of this film.
Arrival (2016)
1 corrected entry
Directed by: Denis Villeneuve
Starring: Forest Whitaker, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Michael Stuhlbarg
Other mistake: When Amy Adams leaves the spacecraft for the final time she is met by Jeremy Renner who throws a blanket around her shoulders. As he does so, the blanket gets caught on something out of view top-of-frame (presumably a boom mic) and he has to tug at it to free it. This was part of one long take in fading light and given the amount of background action going on it was presumably too difficult or time consuming to re-shoot. (01:32:55)
Ian Donnelly: You know I've had my head tilted up to the stars for as long as I can remember. You know what surprised me the most? It wasn't meeting them. It was meeting you.
Question: Why is it that the aliens, who obviously possess technology and intellect far beyond humans, didn't think to use their pictographs to communicate right out the gate? We had to wait for Amy Adams and her dry erase board?
Answer: The Heptapods' "present" encompassed about 6000 years of our human past, present and future. So, they perceived 3000 years of our past and 3000 years of our future simultaneously. It's a confounding idea to humans, but the Heptapods already knew, 3000 years in advance, that Louise was the critical contact for the evolution of communication between our species. For the Heptapods, there was no coincidence or impatience or blind luck; they already knew exactly when and how to start communicating with her.
Answer: The aliens don't see time in a linear fashion but all of time at once, meaning they can see the future, which is why their writing is like it is. They therefore knew Louise (played by Adams) would be the one to figure out their language and had to wait for her, or simply chose to wait for her.
Answer: This question was never answered in the movie. Any response would be speculation. One guess: the aliens waited for humans to make the first attempt to communicate in order to assess how to respond.
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Correction: The Hetapods' understanding of human language is not relevant because the entire point of communicating the way they did was designed to force human beings to overcome their tribal political and social differences so that they could be a united world capable of provide help in the future. The only way to achieve that was to have complicated interactions with each leading nation that led to conflict. That conflict was put aside when Dr. Louise Banks convinces the USA to provide Russia and other nations the "weapon" of the Hetapod language. Giving the language over was a peaceful gesture of friendship and unity. Lastly, the Hetapods can only operate in a manner consistent with the future they see because if you know the future, you must act in a manner consistent with how it unfolds. If you don't, you can alter the future. This is why the Hetapods do not stop the explosion that kills one of them. They already know this is going to happen, and to stop it would alter the future.
Why can't they alter the future? What's the point of knowing the future if you're not going to act on your knowledge to change the bad thing ahead? They acted on their knowledge of something bad happening in 3,000 years and decided to communicate with humans to help them, so they did alter the future.