Encourage you all (even if not generally SF readers / watchers) to go see Arrival, an adaptation of my friend Ted Chiang’s short story, “Story of Your Life.” It’s a beautiful, slow-paced film, and deserves to be seen and appreciated by a wide audience.
I thought they did a lovely job of realizing Ted’s story; this was very true to the original. And of course, for the number-crunchers in Hollywood, if a ton of people go to see this quiet movie made from a short story (incidentally by an Asian American writer), that opens up more possibilities for this kind of film in the future.
Once the movie got to “offer weapon”, I stopped believing it. So now that I’ve read the story, I would say the characters are faithful but the plot is not.