Review #1,153: 'Arrival' (2016)

Anyone who may be somewhat hesitant to let themselves get too hyped-up about the upcoming sequel to Ridley Scott's sci-fi masterpiece Blade Runner (1982) can now at least be assured that the movie is in the safest hands possible after viewing director Denis Villeneuve's Arrival, one of the most intelligent and thoughtful first contact pictures in recent memory. Arrival's November release date goes some way to indicate the kind of audience the film is going for: just in time for awards season and about as far removed from the CGI-laden destruction-athons that litter the summer as you can get. No monuments are blown to smithereens here, nor does the American President deliver a stirring speech to a chest-thumping crowd. Villeneuve's concerns lie with the necessity to communicate and the strength to be had in unity.

Adapted from Ted Chiang's short story Story of Your Life, Arrival begins by establishing the mindset of its heroine Louise Banks (Amy Adams), a linguist who is in mourning over the loss of her daughter to cancer. During one of her lectures, she is asked to turn on the news, where it is being reported that twelve alien spacecrafts have touched down at seemingly random locations around the world. One of the giant, egg-shaped ships touches down close by in Montana, while others hover mysteriously in the likes of Australia, China and Russia. They don't emit any gas or toxins, and their purpose and intent are frustratingly unclear. Naturally, all hell breaks loose across the globe with looting, violence and plummeting stocks leading the media to dub this an 'alien crisis', and Russia and China becoming increasingly nervous.

Having participated in a Farsi translation a couple of years earlier, Louise is brought in by U.S. Army Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker) to help communicate with the alien beings, along with theoretical physicist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner). A base has been set up at the Montana location, and Louise quickly establishes contact with the two giant creatures, who Ian dubs Abbott and Costello. They communicate by ejecting a substance from their tentacles, which manifest in circular symbols, each slightly differing from one another. With Weber and CGI Agent Halpern (Michael Stuhlbarg) insisting that time it of the utmost importance, Louise must decipher the alien language and establish the reason for their arrival as other countries do the same, and before an over-eager China strike first without knowing the extra-terrestrials true intentions.

Time and non-linearity are central to the film's themes, and Arrival's careful pace and fractured narrative will certainly frustrate anyone hoping to see a traditional alien invasion picture. Screenwriter Eric Heisserer and Villeneuve have much bigger ideas than to have both sides simply blow each other up. The film shares more in common with Contact (1997) and Interstellar (2014); more philosophical and contemplative works of science-fiction that raise the big questions. But this is not two hours of chin-stroking, as Villeneuve repeats his Sicario trick of building a tense atmosphere full of dread and trepidation. The first glimpse of the alien ship is an otherwordly experience, as Johann Johannsson's score blares out horns and deep rumbles, like the song of a whale from another planet. It's all anchored by Adams' terrific, restrained performance, as she channels pain and frustration through her tough, closed-off exterior. One of the finest sci-fi pictures of the past decade, and one that cuts to the very fabric of what it means to be human. The Replicants are surely in safe hands.


Directed by: Denis Villeneuve
Starring: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker, Michael Stuhlbarg
Country: USA

Rating: *****

Tom Gillespie