'Arrival' Review

Nominated For: Best Picture, Best Director; Denis Villeneuve, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design, Best Sound Editing, and Best Sound Mixing.
Won: Best Sound Editing.

Aliens have arrived. Planet Earth's world governments are in disarray as to how the situation should be handled. They gather experts to address the situation and make contact with the extra terrestrials. Sounds like an average alien-invasion movie right? Well, it's how Arrival expands upon that very basic idea that makes it one of the best dramatic science fiction films I've seen in recent memory and maybe even my favorite film of the year so far.

Arrival is based on the short story "Story of Your Life" written by Ted Chiang and tells of the sudden appearance of twelve large egg shaped UFOs and humanity's response. The United States gathers linguist expert Dr. Louise Banks and theoretical physicist Ian Donnelly to establish communication with the extra terrestrials and discover their purpose on Earth. Denis Villeneuve directs the mysterious science fiction flick, as a followup to Prisoners and Sicario, and I believe this addition to his filmography makes him a viable candidate to be the next Christopher Nolan in terms of successfully delivering satisfying thought-provoking material to the cinema.

The technical crew at Villeneuve's disposal serve up top notch visuals as cinematographer Bradford Young frames shots that are both awe-inspiring and cryptic and the visual effects team inject an appropriate sense of scale to the wonderful escapist scenery when factoring in the space craft. The score composed by Jóhann Jóhannsson evokes the perfect blend of mysticism, intrigue, and suspense to match the abstract story and underlying philosophical themes about humanity. If you listened to it independently, you probably wouldn't be wowed but it makes an excellent accompaniment to Arrival. 

Eric Heisserer pens a worthy screenplay that takes Ted Chiang's story and expands upon it in a more modern and relatable context. Heisserer's script is brilliant because it doesn't forget about Earth's socio-political atmosphere, character growth, the realism that must be taken into consideration if there is indeed life beyond, and most importantly, to tell a thrilling story. Heisserer manages to cram all of the aforementioned elements into his script and when the scene changes you're simply left to wonder what it all means.

My best simplification of this is that Arrival is essentially a thousand-piece puzzle. When you first glance at it, you have no idea what pieces fit where, what any of it means, and what the final picture will look like but over the course of the film, the pieces slowly come together and you make connections that are simply mind boggling and leaves you to think, think, and think some more. 

The performances exhibited in Arrival don't disappoint either as Amy Adams displays emotion and nuance in Dr. Louise, making her a relatable entry point for the viewer to latch onto. Jeremy Renner and Forest Whitaker both are terrific in the capacity used as Ian Donnelly and Colonel Weber respectively, but are relegated to secondary roles in favor of concentrating on the protagonist. And to save you the trouble of IMDBing, you may recognize Michael Stuhl, who does a fine job, from his more recent work in Doctor Strange and Men in Black 3.

In summary, Arrival is cerebral science fiction at its finest. The film is exceptional and commands multiple viewings for cinephiles to properly process and unravel the mystery. While some viewers may leave the cinema puzzled, those entrenched in the plot won't be able to stop their train of thought deciphering the grand scheme that's been presented.

Film Assessment: A+