Arrival Review

PG13: Brief Strong Language

Paramount Pictures, Lava Bear Films, Filmnation Entertainment, 21 Laps Entertainment

1 Hr and 56 Minutes

Cast: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker, Michael Stuhlbarg, Tzi Ma

REVIEW: Since 2013, Denis Villeneuve has been on my radar. Back then my friend and I saw Prisoners and equally loved it. Last year, his highly praised film Sicario was released and um I was a bit eh with it. It was a good film but entirely overrated than the critics made it be. Now we have Arrival based on the 1999 short story, Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang. The concept is cool and all, but when you have Lois Lane and Hawkeye in a movie together, it is a must see. Oh yeah, there was also American Hustle which they were both in. Never mind.

When multiple mysterious extraterrestrial spacecraft touches down across the globe, an elite team is put together to investigate, including linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams), theoretical physicist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner), and US Army Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker). Humankind teeters on the verge of global war as everyone scrambles for answers—and to find them, Banks, Donnelly, and Weber will take a chance that could threaten their lives, and, quite possibly, humanity.

THE GOOD: What is great about Denis Villeneuve as a filmmaker is that you don’t know what he is to do next. With Prisoners you had a mystery, Sicario was a police procedural, and now Arrival is Sci-Fi. He did a drastic jump from crime dramas into sci-fi drama. I can argue how much this film is a test before his next film the anticipated Blade Runner 2409. The film is so smooth with its shots and storytelling. THIS IS NOT AN ALIEN INVASION FILM! The film goes against the norm of attacking before understanding where we go to big destruction and battles. Even notice the PG13 rating: language. There is just one sequence of action, but that's it. The film is mostly focused on communication between human and alien. The film goes to many lengths trying to understand the language of the aliens where it even includes a montage of the learning of the language. It feels like an educational film and you’re learning a new language but then you realize it’s not a real language. 

What really makes this an award contender film is both its screenplay and cinematography. The film is expanded from a short story into a near 2 hr film with is written with so much intellect and emotional depth with the two aliens and the two humans that care to speak to them. The screenwriter of this film Eric Heisserer has turned in a screenplay that is much different than everything in the Sci-Fi genre that we are just getting numb to. It’s like howthis year’s Lights Out was written in a way to reinvent the horror genre that was getting generic. Oh, wait this film is from the same screenwriter of Lights Out. That is amazing. With Cinematographer, Bradford Young (Selma), he captures some brilliant Christopher Nolan type visuals similar to Interstellar and the setting light dim as Jeff Cronenweth with any David Fincher film. Characters are as dim as the background they are integrated into and the set pieces are stunning once shown. When the film presents the alien ship in its glory for the first time, it is a gorgeous shot that is one of the most memorable shots of this year.

This is the second film Amy Adams carries this month alone and yet, she still slays it. Her performance carries the film but it is never taken over the stop. Her character Louise is smart but you see her struggle with her flashbacks and it's hard to watch as an audience member. She is your guide through the film. Whatever she goes through, you go through as well. What makes her develop more as a person is her chemistry with Jeremy Renner’s character Ian who is pretty much is Jeremy Renner but with glasses.

THE BAD: The film breaks the barrier of storytelling but not only in genre but in narrative format. It’s like a jigsaw puzzle where you have to piece the elements of the story together that by the end you will go OOOOH or oh for real? Was it all about this? I had the similar thing with Sicario where I was on the “oh for real” end of it and this movie felt nearly the same. But if the film didn’t feature the great characters and heart that you don’t really see Sci-Fi films today. It is one of those films where it may take several viewings.

LAST STATEMENT: Arrival provokes the Sci-Fi normal blockbuster genre by having a great intellectual screenplay, brilliant cinematography, heart, and another great direction from Denis Villeneuve.

Rating: 4/5 | 83%

Super Scene: “What do we call em?”