Arrival Review

The suspenseful sci-fi film “Arrival” features Amy Adams as an expert linguist named Louise and her partner Ian, a mathematician played by Jeremy Renner. Already, this PG-13 motion picture has become one of the most anticipated films of the year, and is arguably Amy Adams’ best performance of her acting career. While the trailers of this film portray it to be action-packed, it is actually a slow, emotional movie that when understood, is absolutely brilliant.  When twelve unidentified objects housing seven-legged aliens land in different parts of the world, the U.S. government sends Louise to Montana to figure out their purpose on Earth. When Louise arrives at the destination, she is introduced to her partner, Ian. Louise and Ian are put into the mysterious spacecraft, and after explosions, gravity changes and other near death experiences, the two partners finally create a dictionary of the aliens’ language. This language expresses time as non-linear, helping Louise to look into the future in order to help the world’s present. Finally, Louise is able to communicate with the aliens, who tell her that their purpose on Earth is to share their language to the people in order to bring peace on Earth. The “Hepta-Pods” unify the people of Earth in order to keep their civilization intact so Earth can be used as an ally in a war that’s yet to come. While the concept of “Arrival” is incredible, some minor flaws include being unrealistic, even for a science fiction movie. In one scene, a bomb is planted in the spacecraft, which is watched every second of the day, by two soldiers. Louise and Ian then go into the spacecraft where the bomb detonates, but they miraculously escape with no ear trauma and no blood, only concussions. One of two aliens dies in that scene, and the other one is completely healthy and injury-free.  This film definitely requires lots of thinking, and there is a lot to process when the credits start rolling at the end. I walked out of the theatre puzzled, but after lots of thought I wrapped my head around the plot and stared into space, amazed at how writers can create such unique, mind-blowing ideas. When the audience takes the time to understand this film, the ideas are without a doubt brilliant and will almost definitely be a top nominee for the 2017 Oscars. With stretched-out scenes and a few unrealistic aspects (albeit for a sci-fi movie), I wouldn’t label “Arrival” as the best sci-fi of the year, but it is definitely a must-see.