I really loved their portrayal in The Arrival.
They weren’t this malicious species that fell into typical cliches of science fiction, zapping everyone with lasers and abducting people right and left.
They spoke in this bizarre shape and mathematical language that we were able to decipher. The heptapods felt like a genuine attempt to imagine a new type of intelligence that evolved in an entirely different way.
The director used restraint in this film, which is always a breath of fresh air—especially with movies involving aliens.