Arrival (2016)
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 12 of 29 science fiction films by recommenders
Praised as a top science fiction film and a beautiful adaptation centred on motherhood, love and grief. Caveat: it largely skips how hard communication can be.
Praised as a top science fiction film and a beautiful adaptation centred on motherhood, love and grief. Caveat: it largely skips how hard communication can be.
12 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 10
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 83%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 10 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Beautiful, emotional story about motherhood, grief
“The movie does not miss anything about the difficulties of communication because that is not what the movie is about: it is about motherhood/parenthood, love, grief.”
Comment from 4 Jun 2026 in “A Man Who Reads Books for a Living (One Every Two Days)” “Arrival is a beautiful adaptation that improves upon the original short story mostly by addition”
Comment from 4 Jun 2026 in “A Man Who Reads Books for a Living (One Every Two Days)” Ranked among the best sci-fi films
“which I consider one of the best scifi movies of all time”
Comment from 30 Sep 2026 in “Ask HN: What are you reading?” “Arrival is one of the best films ever.”
Comment from 14 Mar 2026 in “You gotta think outside the hypercube”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Misses how hard communication is
“The movie doesn't focus on these aspects at all, maybe these are hard to adapt in a mainstream Hollywood movie.”
Comment from 4 Jun 2026 in “A Man Who Reads Books for a Living (One Every Two Days)” “I think the movie misses on the part on how hard communication can be”
Comment from 4 Jun 2026 in “A Man Who Reads Books for a Living (One Every Two Days)”
Other science fiction films people recommend
The four most recommended other science fiction films, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blade Runner | 54 | 11 | 83% | 10 | 34 yrs3 owners | Approved |
| Colossus: The Forbin Project | 35 | 2 | 95% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Jurassic Park (1993 film) | 32 | 7 | 82% | 8 | — | Approved |
| The Fifth Element | 24 | 3 | 89% | 5 | — | Approved |
| Arrival (2016)This page | 10 | 2 | 83% | 6 | — | Approved |
What people said
9 of the 13 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“which I consider one of the best scifi movies of all time”
“The movie doesn't focus on these aspects at all, maybe these are hard to adapt in a mainstream Hollywood movie.”
“The movie does not miss anything about the difficulties of communication because that is not what the movie is about: it is about motherhood/parenthood, love, grief.”
“I think the movie misses on the part on how hard communication can be”
“Arrival is a beautiful adaptation that improves upon the original short story mostly by addition”
“Arrival is one of the best films ever.”
“Don't forget Villeneuve's "Arrival".”
“Either way I enjoyed Arrival (and the short story).”
“We can find plenty of films that are works of art after the 90s.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.