“If you could see your whole life from start to finish, would you change things?”
Directed by: Denis Villeneuve
1h 56min
Aliens touch down on Earth within the first few minutes of Arrival. The standard general panic and military scramble unfolds while the Earthlings wait to find out how they die. Lucky for the humans, and the audience, this alien flick has some things in common with 2001: a Space Odyssey and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and nothing in common with Independence Day. They’re not here to blow up the White House, they’re here to blow our minds.
I love seeing new things in sci-fi movies. I’m not talking about the latest take on a futuristic car, or some sort of 25th century fashion that will undoubtably look dated by 2027. I’m talking about new concepts, like the way gravity works on an alien vessel, or how an alien intelligence would comprehend our linear languages when they think in endless circles. Arrival delights in showing us new things.
Our hero, played by Amy Adams, isn’t some ace-pilot-action-star, she’s a linguistics expert. Just yesterday she was teaching her university classes, now she’s making first contact with some scary giant squids while trying to make sense of some mysterious flashbacks she just can’t get out of her head.
She’s not here to defuse a bomb with only seconds to spare, or outrun a fireball. She’s here to teach, and learn, and struggle with some unreasonable humans hellbent on not understanding the aliens or each other.
Arrival is an unusual instance of storytelling where the characters and audience learn at the same time and reach the same realizations and the same destinations together. It demands your full attention. Drift off the path for a few minutes and you might get lost, stay on track and you will arrive.
Highly recommended.
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SD $14.99
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SD $12.99
HD $14.99
Buy
SD $13.99
HD $14.99
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