Arrival

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Arrival is directed by Denis Villeneuve and stars Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, and Forest Whitaker. It is based on the short story Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang. Twelve alien pods land in different positions around the globe. The military brings in linguist Dr. Louise Banks (Amy Adams) and numbers guy Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner) to communicate with the aliens and figure out what it is they want. Director Denis Villeneuve crafts a science fiction drama that manages to keep you invested the whole time. This whole movie has a slow pace to it, but there are moments of tension sprinkled throughout. Amy Adams is fairly understated. Her performance doesn’t scream “Give me an oscar.” But, that’s exactly why she deserves one. Adams and Renner shine together, bringing a fair amount of heart to Arrival that I didn’t expect. This movie cares about crafting its characters. As she is trying to solve this alien language, you’re with her the entire way. Forest Whitaker should also be commended for his performance as the army general wiring with Banks and Donnelly. You know exactly what this man’s goals are. He makes it clear what he has to do. The whole time he feels like a fully realized character, never really a cardboard cutout, or a villain for the sake of being a villain. There are some twists and turns the movie takes on occasion, and they actually do work for me. Overall, Arrival is a smart, clever science fiction movie that focuses on learning language, and puts good characters into the forefront. There’s a sense that each step taken was meant to be, like there’s no other way these characters (or this story) could have gone (or been told). Arrival is one of those movies that made me think, and makes me want to watch it again.

10 / 10