Arrival is a Science Fiction film about first contact with an alien species.
Arrival tells the tale of Dr. Louise Banks (Amy Adams), a linguistic professor who is called upon to help the US military when an unidentified flying object lands in Montana.
Arrival successfully manages to stray away from the tried and true formula of first contact movies by telling a personal tale that raises this movie to become one of the best movies of the year.
Denis Villeneuve successfully takes what could have been a run of the mill and uninteresting sci-fi movie and turns it into deeply personal tale. His direction causes the film to ebb and flow alongside the mental state of the films protagonist, therefore taking the audience on a psychological journey as opposed to a physical one.
Story wise, this is a subtle movie with a well crafted narrative. Eric Heisserer has done a wonderful job of adapting Ted Chiang's novel "Story of Your Life" to a screenplay format. Heisserer has managed to craft a story that allows the viewer to change their perspective while they watch the movie, which is a refreshing experience in the cinema.
The use of sound in this movie expands upon the personalisation of the music. This is a boon to sound designers Michelle Child, Olivier Calvert and the rest of the sound department. Music and sound effects are a fantastic tool that helps the audience enter the mind of our protagonist.
The sounds that are created for the alien language, as well as the written alien language, help create a believable alien presence. What helps even more is the visual presence for the alien creatures. The design is incredible, although reminiscent of the alien design in Torchwood: Children of Earth.
The mythology for the creatures is developed enough for the audience to believe that they could exist somewhere in the universe, but there is not enough explained for the audience to know everything about the creatures. This therefore allows the creatures to maintain their ethereal presence.
Of course, none of this could be possible without Amy Adams stunning performance as the films protagonist. Her grounded portrayal of Dr. Banks manages to make this film appear as it if could possibly be the world outside our window.
Amy Adams is supported by a wonderful supporting cast, including Jeremy Renner as Ian Donnelly and Forest Whittaker as Colonel Weber. Both actors use their time on screen to not only boost the performance of Amy Adams, but to demonstrate their own acting chops.
The casts portrayals of their characters managed to hit the correct notes, with all character relationships feeling natural as opposed to forced. This allowed the world to feel lived in and as if the audience was watching the world that we were shown change, as well as the characters positions in this world.
This movie has managed to make the audience think by telling a personal story. It forces to audience to go beyond their usual limit with sci-fi and think about the story that is being told. Arrival is a film that audiences need to see in order to understand how genre defying films can be made.
Number of times I looked at my watch: Once
Recommendation: See this film.
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