When twelve mysterious objects appear on the surface of the Earth, distinguished linguist Louise Banks is recruited to help investigate why they are here. What results is an experience far beyond language...
Like Denis Villeneuve's previous films, Sicario and Prisoners, Arrival throws ordinary people into a situation they never thought they would face, this time taking university doctor Louise Banks from her teaching job into a spaceship to interact with aliens. This may be the least 'realistic' of his films, and yet Arrival somehow manages to feel the most 'human', thanks to its roots in communication and emotion. Amy Adams in undoubtedly the heart and soul of the film, her face and very human reactions constantly being sought out by the camera and framed in the middle of the screen. It is a stripped down, restrained and understated performance, and yet Adams always manages to immerse us in the emotion of a situation. Jeremy Renner and Forest Whitaker provide admirable support, but this is really Adams' film through and through. Punctuated by a truly haunting and mesmeric score, you are swept along in the emotive nature of the film in an instant, and I felt a little drained come the credits.
One of the obvious let downs of the film is how ridiculous the aliens themselves look. When we see them from behind the glass screen, they appears mysterious, eerie and elusive, but in the moment where we see them as a whole being, the result is somewhat laughable. No, these are no humanoid beings, but one can't help but think a little more thought could have gone into making them appear less like mangled squids. Similarly, there is a moment in the film in which an explosion occurs, and this whole episode appears entirely pointless. We are already seeing through news footage how the world is responding to the arrival of the aliens, and then this explosion occurs only to be brushed over exceedingly quickly. As one friend commented, it appears that the explosion was 'put in to make the trailer seem more exciting', and I have to agree.
It feels as though it's been a while since we had a sci-fi film that focused on the quieter, explanatory nature of communication than the big bangs and explosions of modern blockbusters, so Arrival feels like a breath of fresh air. Rooted in an understated performance from Amy Adams, this thought-provoking film will linger in your memory, and leave you considering the complexities of communication.
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