Arrival is a consistently well-acted, intelligently constructed sci-fi drama that cares much more about character and story instead of mindless special effects. This is one of the brainier, more introspective movies to come out this genre since the likes of Signs and Contact.
Amy Adams stars as Louise Banks, a linguist who discovers a spacecraft landed on Earth and she’s called to decipher the mysterious language that the alien visitors speak. Jeremy Renner costars as her partner in the investigation and Forest Whitaker is an Army colonel who oversees the operation.
The alien visitors communicate with different symbols and Louise tries to interpret them as best she can. The aliens in this film don’t exactly look or function in an original fashion, but at the same time, they’re not silly and they are convincing. They don’t have a lot of range or personality, but they’re not the regurgitated lifeforms we’re accustomed to.
We also get a back story on how Louise lost her only child to cancer and this also supplies a good deal of weight and drama to not only the plot, but also brings a nuance to Adams’ performance as well. It can also serve as a bit of a cheat if you pay close attention.
Director Denis Villeneuve of Sicario and Prisoners is a master of pacing. He doesn’t hammer the screen with effects-loaded sequences. Instead he builds quiet tension combined with a brooding atmosphere. It’s an enormous temptation for a filmmaker to fill a movie like this with nonstop action, but Villeneuve does something even riskier: He plays against expectations.
This movie creates a realistic and believable depiction of an alien arrival.
Grade: B+
(Rated PG-13 for brief strong language.)
