“There are days that define your story beyond your life.”
Working tirelessly to captivate your mind and tug at your heart, Denis Willeneuve’s Arrival hits hardest above the shoulders. Utilizing a truly remarkable story and a slew of near flawless performances, the sci-fi epic seamlessly tells its story, playing things by the book until the unforeseen final ten minutes, where a bomb is dropped and you begin to question your own life and its core meaning.
Based on “Story of Your Life”, a short story by Ted Chiang, Arrival centers around Amy Adams’ Dr. Louise Banks, a linguist who is recruited by the army when twelve unusual objects make their presence known across the globe. When the film begins we are greeted by a timid, somewhat soft spoken college professor who walks into a nearly empty classroom and declares, “today we are talking about romance languages”. I am not sure if this original introduction was intentional by Willleneuve, but in a weird way it works as we find ourselves drawn to the innocent and fragile Banks.
The film progresses at an even pace, never overstaying its welcome as it keeps its complex nature within arms reach, refusing to enter into the absurd as everything that takes place on screen appears plausible within the scope of real life. The set pieces are magnificent, the attention to detail meticulous; so much so that you have to wonder if Christopher Nolan isn’t sitting in a theater somewhere taking notes.
By the time we are introduced to Forest Whitaker’s Colonel Weber and Jeremy Renner’s Ian Donnelly, we are beginning to gain a strong understanding for the film and its characters. This is a mistake we make countless times throughout the film.
As our band of heroes enter into the “shell” (a lackluster code word for the UFOs) and we get our first glimpse of the aliens in all their glory, it is nearly impossible to not see the inspiration from 1996’s Independence Day. But unlike the hugely successful blockbuster, Arrival attempts to dig deeper, building on a character study that examines human interaction, understanding and the complexity of languages. The aliens are merely a backdrop, utilized to prove a point.
Adams is truly remarkable in the film, embodying her character as she fully emerges herself in the experience. You believe her intelligence, her social awkwardness and her need for understanding. Her education far exceeds her social insight as she handles screenwriter Eric Heisserer’s dialogue with absolute confidence - as if the words were her own.
During the climatic third act the world is on the brink of a global war. Feeling the pressure Banks must work to understand what the visitors are trying to say, fully aware that often times the context and interpretation can change the meaning of an entire word - especially within barriers of an entirely new vocabulary. But then the bombshell hits and Arrival leaves this stratosphere, entering a time and place all its own. I refuse to ruin the final ten minutes for anyone; it is what makes watching films so rewarding. But rest assured, this film is one you cannot miss.
