I think Villeneuve made a very conscious decision to sideline a lot of the harder sci Fi elements. I felt like it was overall a good idea but it meant that people were largely going to enjoy it based on the more human elements, and the various intrigue. I had to explain a number of things to the friends I saw it with but despite that they were very very enthralled, which I thought meant it was a good success. The fact that they wanted me to explain the scifi stuff stood out bc these friends are definitely not into that normally.