Arrival (2016)

When a lot of people think 'science fiction', their minds often go towards the louder and brash variant of the genre. You know, with lots of lasers, space battles or grotesque alien races. Yet there is also another side to the genre that is a lot more low key and thought provoking. It often just boils down to what your particular taste that particular day is. 

'Arrival' is one of the latter category, and I love it.

Yes, it has aliens and spaceships, but not in the way you would normally expect. I'm sure to burst the bubble. No tentacled monstrosities kidnapping buxom women to do with as they please. That's for the hentai-section.

I don't judge, I'm just saying.

Anyway.

The world is in an uproar when out of the blue, twelve spaceships land. Or more correctly hover at random locations in the world. They do nothing, but they do allow people to go inside, but communication is extremely difficult. Amy Adams is Louise Banks, a linguistics professor who gets more or less shanghaied into deciphering the sounds the alien visitors make, because of course the army wants to communicate and more specifically know why they are here and if they are hostile or not. It's not easy, as you would imagine. She soon discovers that the aliens communicate through a complex language of symbols, however the translations are sometimes vague and when a mention is made of a weapon, countries across the globe gear up for war. But is this truly the intent of the visitors? Moreover, what are these flashes Louise begins to see of apparently her own life, yet of things that have not even happened yet? 

To give away more, would be spoiling it to a certain degree, which I will not do here. 

'Arrival' is a rather slow film, but that is because it relies heavily on atmosphere and emotional connections and less on actual action. There is a grand total of one action scene (more or less), but that's it. But that is because the focus lies elsewhere. This is all about communication and man's ability and often inability to do so. It's pretty on the nose, actually, as not only a different language can throw up a barrier: even people that speak the same language often have a hard time understanding each other. Or maybe it's a comment on how we don't really like to actually sit down and listen to others. It's a simple message, but brought to you in such a way as to make you slow down and think for a change. 

The cinematography is great and even though the main colourscheme seems to be hues of grey and blue, it doesn't detract from how great it all looks. Sure, at times it is a litlle dark, I'll grant you that. But to be fair: that didn't bother me at all. Amy Adams does a great job as someone who is an expert in her field yet who feels woefully inept at solving the mysteries... at first. Jeremy Renner is likeable, but he doesn't get that much to do. This is Adams' film, and rightfully so. 

It seems as though director Denis Villeneuve absolutely adores science fiction. Why? Because he manages to make it connect to a lot of emotions in an engaging way. The guy also made the highly underrated 'Blade Runner 2049', which is a much better film than it sometimes gets credit for and a very well done sequel to a highly loved film. Heck, even I didn't think he could pull it off.

I was wrong.

'Arrival' is one of those films that does require you to keep your wits about you and it's not actually easy viewing. Not that it's convoluted or confusing in any way, but it's not easily digestible popcorn entertainment. But you do get a very well-made film with lots of heart and character and a story that is more a comment on how we behave as a species than it is anything else. That message might come as a pretty tough blow. Nevertheless: if more cerebral stories are your thing, pick this one up. You won't regret it.