I have only half-finished it yet but I need to rant.
movie spoilers
Aliens have landed at 12 locations on Earth. One of them being the USA. American military is working with a pair of scientists--a linguist and a physicist--to figure out their language.
Meanwhile the American public is terrified of these aliens who have done nothing but landed and attempted to communicate. They are mad that the American military has not tried to blow them to smithereens. The baddies--China and Russia--are mounting a military operation against the aliens.
I cannot even...
Despite the issues with the worldbuilding, it is still one of my favorites.