Arrival (2016) - Film Review
Starring: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner & Forest Whitaker
Screenplay: Eric Heisserer
Directed By: Dennis Villeneuve
Certificate: 12
One
of the more high-profile films of the year, Arrival's
own arrival at the box office was met with impressive reviews and
audience reactions, and found its way onto many critics' end of year
Top Ten lists. Yet despite this glowing response, I've noticed a
small group of people who aren't so convinced, arguing that the film
is vastly overrated, and not as good as many would have you believe.
So is Arrival the five-star science fiction masterpiece
it's been made out to be, or do its harsher critics actually have a
point?
University
lecturer and expert linguist Louise Banks finds an ordinary day
interrupted when twelve extraterrestrial spacecraft arrive out of
nowhere at different locations around Earth. The U.S. Army asks
Louise to join an elite team of scientific investigators to translate
the aliens' language and find out why they are here. Meanwhile, the
world's nations struggle to coordinate a unanimous response, and
gradually start keeping secrets and withholding information from each
other. It becomes a race against time to find answers before humanity
starts its first interstellar war.
Not
only has Arrival found a generally positive critical
reception, it's also been met with great awards success and has been
nominated in many categories, many of which are to do with its
production. It's not hard to see why, as Arrival showcases
some beautiful, sleek production design in practically every area.
The aliens and their ships feel very distinctive and look terrific,
while Dennis Villeneuve's smooth direction makes this feel like an
immensely polished and sublime production. If anything, it's
Arrival's use of sound that really stood out to me, and
it's in this area where it won the Academy Award for sound editing.
This was an award the film undoubtedly deserved, as it features some
of the best use of sound I've seen in a while. The use of sound here
is almost ethereal, perfectly edited and something that feels just as
other-worldly as the alien ships – the same goes for Johann
Johannsson's music score.
Due
to the amount of focus Arrival puts on its central
protagonist, Louise, the film needed an endearing lead for it to pay
off, and thankfully that's exactly what it has. Leading this solid
cast is Amy Adams, who gives an impressive and very human
performance. Louise isn't defined as a character through any big or
grand moments, but through quiet and understated emotion and this is
remarkably effective. It's difficult to talk about Louise's story
without spoiling the many twists it involves, and while I don't want
to spoil too much, her story starts off as heartbreaking, but by the
end, this heartbreak becomes something genuinely beautiful. Alongside
Louise, the supporting cast, while nowhere near as developed, still
feel at home here. Jeremy Renner as Ian works well with Amy Adams,
and you get the sense there's a legitimate friendship between the
two, while Forest Whitaker does a good job embodying the typical
military response to the alien arrival.
In
recent years, sci-fi films seen to have fallen into one of two
different categories: those designed to entertain and provide grand
spectacle (such as last year's Star Wars: The Force Awakens),
and those that use the genre to explore genuinely interesting ideas
(such as last year's Ex Machina). While I
wholeheartedly love both, Arrival falls into this
latter category, and the fascinating concepts it explores are where
it succeeds the most. Again, I don't want to spoil too much, but
ideas such as language, communication with aliens, and time are all
essential to the film, and all tie in to each other. Seeing Louise
trying to communicate with the “Heptapods” and each side
attempting to learn the other's language, is not only great viewing,
it's a refreshing change from all-out war between humans and aliens.
Arrival could have received a lot of praise for playing
around with these ideas, but what elevates it into something greater
is that it integrates them into the actual plot. (Spoiler Warning!)
See, understanding the aliens' language allows you to see time
non-linearly, and allows Louise to see the future. Seeing this future
is how Louise learns how to stop the Chinese military General from
starting a war against the aliens. The combination of plot and
brilliant concepts is what makes the final act the strongest portion
of the film.
While
most of the time Arrival focuses on Louise and the ship
that's landed in America, that doesn't prevent it from accomplishing
a sense of global scale that feels very realistic – something I
always love to see. One of my biggest problems with the film
Independence Day, an otherwise thoroughly entertaining
film, is that it sees aliens launch a worldwide invasion, but we
barely ever see this invasion outside of America. Arrival is
superior in this area as while it also features a worldwide invasion
and is largely set in America, we at least get the impression that
these events are truly global thanks to the included footage of
worldwide news reports and multiple nations interacting with each
other. It's such a small, easy-to-accomplish detail, but it's one
that's hugely important and reminds us of the need for global
cooperation when faced with global problems.
As
I mentioned earlier, while Arrival has gone down well
with the majority of critics and audiences, there are a fair few
people who remain unconvinced and insist that the film is overrated.
So, do they have a valid argument? Kind of. It's slow-burning nature
means Arrival certainly isn't for everyone, and I at
least see where people are coming from when they say the film is
boring. I'll admit that the first act only works effectively when
viewed for the first time, as it gradually immerses you into Louise's
story and the aliens' arrival. However, on re-watches, the time it
takes for Colonel Weber to seek Louise's help and for her to actually
get onto the alien ship drags, as you find yourself wanting to get to
the much more interesting second and third acts. Even then, the first
act is unlikely to work for everyone, and it wouldn't be surprising
for some viewers to switch off before things really get going.
In
conclusion, Arrival isn't a sci-fi film that's going to
meet everyone's tastes, and I myself wouldn't tout it as a five-star
masterpiece. However, that's not to say that Arrival isn't
a very good film, as a huge amount succeeds here. After all, there's
an incredible sense of atmosphere that runs throughout, and it looks
and feels beautiful, thanks to its cinematography and in particular,
sound. Add to this a confident lead performance from Amy Adams, as
well as plenty of fascinating ideas and concepts, and there's one
very good film here.
Arrival
8/10