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ARRIVAL
The science fiction thriller has been elevated to a fresh and intelligent level with a challenging and unpredictable 2016 nail biter called Arrival, which skips over the accustomed path of films of this genre that question the existence of life outside of this planet, but confronts that life with the question "What can we do for you?"
Twelve alien crafts that look like giant coffee beans land in different locations all over the world. The only one that lands in the United States appears somewhere in Montana. While attempting to deal with this invasion, the government is baffled when the pod appears to be trying to communicate with the earthlings. Military leaders enlist the aid of a linguistics professor named Louise Banks (Amy Adams), who they have worked with before and has military clearance, to determine exactly what these aliens, who communicate with large, octopus-like tentacles, want with our planet.
Screenwriters Eric Heisserer and Ted Chiang have crafted an adult and contemporary sci-fi nail biter that treats the viewers as adults who don't have to be spoon fed the fact that we are dealing with alien life here. The story also earns its cinematic credentials in that the confrontation doesn't go immediately to intergalactic battle...this not about the destruction of this alien life but the quest to find out exactly what they want from earth because they don't attack, they just land. The military has exhausted scientific and mathematical methods of contact and realize their only option is through actual communication, which is where Banks come in. We are enthralled as Banks methodically gains the trust of these beings through teaching them English words to communicate with but Banks' contact with the aliens (nicknamed Abbott and Costello) reaches a dangerous level when the aliens somehow convey the word "weapon."
Director Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners, Enemy) has taken on a mammoth task here, giving a methodic leisure to this story that sometimes moves a little too slowly for us, offers a few too many red herrings, but never goes anywhere we expect it to, but the pieces of this striking cinematic puzzle begin to fall together during a third act where, after constant opposition and interference from the people who asked for help, Louise has to go rogue to continue the path she has initiated which the rest of her crew has lost faith in. The tension of this story is further fueled by the glimpses of what is happening at the other eleven locations where the coffee beans have landed. They have us wondering if these aliens are trying to teach the world how to work together or if they're trying to tear it apart and the final reveal is a payoff no one will see coming.
Villeneuve's direction is crisp and detailed and gets grand assistance from a first rate production team, as well as a cast, headed by the always reliable Amy Adams, who serve the story, which always stays center stage. Villeneuve's direction received one of the film's eight Oscar nominations, as well as a Best Picture nomination, confirming that Villeneuve is a director to watch.
The science fiction thriller has been elevated to a fresh and intelligent level with a challenging and unpredictable 2016 nail biter called Arrival, which skips over the accustomed path of films of this genre that question the existence of life outside of this planet, but confronts that life with the question "What can we do for you?"
Twelve alien crafts that look like giant coffee beans land in different locations all over the world. The only one that lands in the United States appears somewhere in Montana. While attempting to deal with this invasion, the government is baffled when the pod appears to be trying to communicate with the earthlings. Military leaders enlist the aid of a linguistics professor named Louise Banks (Amy Adams), who they have worked with before and has military clearance, to determine exactly what these aliens, who communicate with large, octopus-like tentacles, want with our planet.
Screenwriters Eric Heisserer and Ted Chiang have crafted an adult and contemporary sci-fi nail biter that treats the viewers as adults who don't have to be spoon fed the fact that we are dealing with alien life here. The story also earns its cinematic credentials in that the confrontation doesn't go immediately to intergalactic battle...this not about the destruction of this alien life but the quest to find out exactly what they want from earth because they don't attack, they just land. The military has exhausted scientific and mathematical methods of contact and realize their only option is through actual communication, which is where Banks come in. We are enthralled as Banks methodically gains the trust of these beings through teaching them English words to communicate with but Banks' contact with the aliens (nicknamed Abbott and Costello) reaches a dangerous level when the aliens somehow convey the word "weapon."
Director Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners, Enemy) has taken on a mammoth task here, giving a methodic leisure to this story that sometimes moves a little too slowly for us, offers a few too many red herrings, but never goes anywhere we expect it to, but the pieces of this striking cinematic puzzle begin to fall together during a third act where, after constant opposition and interference from the people who asked for help, Louise has to go rogue to continue the path she has initiated which the rest of her crew has lost faith in. The tension of this story is further fueled by the glimpses of what is happening at the other eleven locations where the coffee beans have landed. They have us wondering if these aliens are trying to teach the world how to work together or if they're trying to tear it apart and the final reveal is a payoff no one will see coming.
Villeneuve's direction is crisp and detailed and gets grand assistance from a first rate production team, as well as a cast, headed by the always reliable Amy Adams, who serve the story, which always stays center stage. Villeneuve's direction received one of the film's eight Oscar nominations, as well as a Best Picture nomination, confirming that Villeneuve is a director to watch.