November | 2016 | 3 Green Fish

If I recall correctly, the trailers tried to imply that this was an alien invasion movie. It’s not. It’s an alien communication movie.
It’s about learning to communicate with beings that think in a manner and fashion that is utterly unlike the way that we do.
It’s also an exploration just how humanity would react to first contact.
Some solid and unexpected twists and turns.
It’s a thinky movie, not an explosion-fest. But the kind of more cerebral science fiction film that often gets ignored in favor of its big-budget explosion-focused blockbuster cousin.
Solid performances throughout, and Amy Adams is terrific in the (difficult) lead role.

At the end of the credits of Dr. Strange, there’s a warning about distracted driving. It’s probably unnecessary.
Come for the redemptive character arc, stay for the awesome facial hair (and I mean that in the classical sense — it’s terrifying in some scenes).
They retconned The Ancient One from a racist stereotype into Tilda Swinton, and it’s surprisingly successful. She really blew it out of the park.
Cumberbatch also nailed it. He’s annoyingly arrogant but not in the same way as he is in BBC’s Sherlock. And he manages to really sell his character’s emotional turmoil.
Is it a superhero movie? It’s certainly less spandexy than some, but it still wears its comic book origins proudly.
And all of that is moot because the visuals are amazing. Really cool stuff. It reminded me of Inception in parts, but it also really utilized the psychedelic imagery that the source material employed — just as I was hoping.
Anyway, I’m a sucker for anything Marvel at this point, so my opinion is not exactly unbiased. A bit of drama, a healthy dose of humor, solid action and some awesome effects. See it in theaters if you can!

3 Green Fish