REVIEWS
Fantastic Fest 2016: Villeneuve's Beautiful, Overwhelming 'Arrival'
by Jeremy Kirk
September 23, 2016
We can stop making science fiction films now. Arrival has said it all. Yes, there's a very healthy dose of hyperbole with that statement, but that doesn't make the overwhelming feeling the film conveys, directed by Denis Villeneuve and written by Eric Heisserer, any less resonant. Arrival is smart, simple sci-fi that never panders and never overstays its welcome, and, with Amy Adams on board to be our guide through the waterworks that are sure to come, it's one of the best science fiction films to come around in years and one worthy of the processing required. Emotional and daring in the most exquisite of ways, Arrival becomes that eye-opening tale of alien encounters and communicative sparring that leaves the viewer rattling the ramifications that follow around in their head for days, a key staple for any, good science fiction.
Based on the short story titled "Story of Your Life" by Ted Chiang, the film focuses on Dr. Louise Banks (Amy Adams), a gifted linguist whose universe is turned upside down when a dozen spacecrafts mysteriously enter Earth's atmosphere, seemingly choosing random spots on the map to touch down just ten feet off the ground. Banks, along with a mathematician named Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner), are called in by the military to open lines of communication with the planet's new visitors. Managed by the US military, namely Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker), it's up to the scientists to figure out a means to communicate with these extraterrestrials and sort out their ultimate intentions - what do they want and are they hostile.
It doesn't take long for Villeneuve's film to find its emotional core, with Banks' grief over the loss of her only child creating a state that has her living in the past as well as the present. It isn't a groundbreaking key to the film's emotions, but the director and writer's handling creates a genuinely impactful mental state in their protagonist that works wonders when mixed with the chilling alien presence. How it all plays out is even more overwhelming than its simple nature.
Aided by breathtaking cinematography from Bradford Young and accompanied by a foreboding yet grounded, almost elemental, musical score by Jóhann Jóhannsson, Villeneuve's Arrival looks and feels like something we would have gotten from early Christopher Nolan. Comparisons to Interstellar are sure to be inevitable, but the story elements don't justify such a comparison, Arrival's narrative falling in line more with something like Michael Crichton's "Sphere" than anything else. In essence, though, Arrival is completely its own beast, a thought-provoking look at the science and politics involved when meeting an extraterrestrial race. The less said about them, the better.
Instead, Villeneuve and company take the basic building blocks of the science fiction world and inject them into the very real world of today. The film says more about how we as people would react in 2016 to such a thing than any prescient vision of our future, and the alien's intentions, though not fully revealed at first, create an important dialogue for any living creature today.
It certainly helps that Adams takes charge in the lead role, grounding those building blocks down to our most basic of human needs with dialogue and performance and letting that sensibility bubble up at every, nuanced moment. The actress says so much with a slight glance oftentimes without even any words to be said. It's a performance that, like the film itself, gets back to the basics of how it all works and creates a classical sense of understanding, something not many actors can pull off these days.
Even fewer can pull this off while still conveying the tremendous power required to make it all resonate. Everything about Arrival is overwhelming, the moments of beauty mixing flawlessly with the science fiction tone with an almost magical touch. It's the kind of unique cinematic experience that moves the viewer to tears based on sheer beauty of the work alone, but what that work says and what it ultimately means are the elements out of which masterpieces are made. Denis Villeneuve, whose work in Prisoners and Sicario won't be forgotten any time soon, has made his masterpiece with Arrival. The ball is now in the court of science fiction as a whole to step up and prove itself alongside it.
Follow Jeremy on Twitter - @JeremyKKirk
21 Comments
1
Definitely want to see this.
Mark on Sep 23, 2016
2
"We can stop making (bad) science fiction films now" There is enough room to make amazing sci-fi movies, if only they can adapt 1/1000th of what exists in sci-fi literature.
tarek on Sep 23, 2016
3
5
It is awesome to hear that I can get hyped about this movie, watching for screening dates in my country/city now!!
The Critic on Sep 24, 2016
6
Maybe this will be my personal highlight of the year, but it will be damn hard to surpass the nice guys and before i wake...
ari smulders on Sep 24, 2016
7
There was no chance this was not going to be amazing. I am very happy for the future of Denis.
DAVIDPD on Sep 24, 2016
8
"We can stop making science fiction films now" No
ScotchLuv on Sep 25, 2016
9
Its just more mass programming for when they arrive :o)
LV 426 on Sep 26, 2016
10
Do they ever show the aliens entirely or just a shadow? Also do they look convincing or cheesy?
Trey on Sep 26, 2016
11
They must have done wonders with the script I read, which was made for tv special melodrama. They story isn't really any different than The Day The Earth Stood Still meets Contact but I'm hoping for the best.
ff on Oct 6, 2016
12
Not even close to those two films. Maybe, in some respect Contact might be something akin to Arrival, but that one, The Contact, is also way too shallow for this one ...
shiboleth on Nov 26, 2016
13
The 2 movies are extremely similar. Both feature a parent/child relationship, just reversed between them, as the backdrop to meeting aliens and deciphering their language and secret plans, both of which are also the exact same.
ff on Nov 26, 2016
14
Everything that is so 'extremely similar', as you say, are the points of divide between them. In a hope that I won't give away too many spoilers, I have to say, that The Contact is not even close to be accomplished as Arrival is. I totally agree with the first sentence in this review. I would even say, Arrival starts where The Contact didn't know how to finish. The relations of parent and child have very different meanings in both films. In the Arrival, that relation is allegory that still has to be lived and judged, while in The Contact that relations is existing just in retrospect and is a mere tool to communicate. As for the communication, Arrival gives a much vaster perspective on its meaning while in The Contact communication is a way of sending an nondeciphered message which solves nothing. In Arrival, communication and language is a weapon meant to achieve everything opposite from war. In The Contact, every message has the burden of unsolved discussion between religious and not religious views. Besides, The Arrival is completely, dare I say, post-religious film. I could go on, but my point is, those are big differences and all that is similar between those films are just starting points of their incredible and insurmountable differences in their achievements ...
shiboleth on Nov 27, 2016
15
Finally saw the movie. It was ok. I enjoy the DP's work and the director's visual style but the script was pretty bad. In many way I was wrong and it's more of a ripoff of The Abyss (bit not as good) than Contact, although they all share many similarities in basic plot. The main characters were about as boring as it gets, I never felt any real connection between them, and actually both characters were completely selfish, both for different reasons-him for leaving and her for bringing a child into the world she knows will have a horrible early end. I'm not sure what people are seeing in this. IM glad you liked it though not trying to take a jab at you, I just was hoping for much more. Take care.
ff on Dec 1, 2016
16
17
What did I miss since you are so brilliant? Please enlighten me Mr Hawking.
ff on Dec 2, 2016
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19
I've read multiple reviews I saw the movie and I read the script please enlighten me. What's the message I seem to be missing? -That she would do it all over again even though she knows the outcome? no kidding. That's why I said she's selfish for choosing that path rather than thinking about her daughters life and her husband is also selfish for leaving and abandoning them. There was also basically zero chemistry between their characters and honestly the science and language stuff was glossed over and boring. The concept of a non linear language and time travel as a device was interesting but that's about it. Where am I wrong?
ff on Dec 2, 2016
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21
I saw it tonight and it almost feels like they could stop doing sf at all. Of course, this is overreacting to a good film, but yes, it's that good ...
shiboleth on Nov 26, 2016
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