Arrival

UK Release Date: 10 November 2016

Certification: 12A

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Cast: Amy Adams, Tzi Ma, Mark O'Brien, Jeremy Renner, Michael Stuhlbarg, Forrest Whitaker

Rating: 98%

'Why are they here?'

Review:

Arrival is an intriguing and fascinating sci-fi movie from Denis Villeneuve based on a short story about the arrival of alien life - starring Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner and Forrest Whittaker. Upon release the movie received worldwide praise which resulted in a best picture nomination at the Oscars only losing out to Moonlight. 

Firstly, this is Amy Adams' movie. She is truly terrific as linguist, Louise Banks who essentially has to create and decipher a whole new language in order to communicate with the aliens - which are known as heptapods. As the movie progresses, Louise begins to interact more and more with the heptapods and that makes both her and the story even more interesting and Amy Adams is able to display every emotion that she's feeling perfectly. Jeremy Renner acts well but he doesn't contribute much to the plot because of the aforementioned one man show from Amy Adams. Forrest Whittaker is also a nice addition to Arrival as Colonel Weber. 

I said it when reviewing Prisoners and after experiencing Arrival it only backs up my feelings that Denis Villeneuve is an outstanding director and is quickly becoming one of my favourites. I need to finish his filmography in the lead up to his next movie, Dune. The cinematography is so astonishingly beautiful, every shot is visually unique and explorative. None more so than the first glimpse of the Heptapod's ship which is jaw dropping to say the least.  

The sound design is unquestionably the best aspect of Arrival, which didn't go unnoticed as the movie won an Oscar for it's sound editing. The noises from the Heptapods benefit to the mysterious nature of their purpose. This is definitely backed up by Jóhann Jóhannsson's brilliant, eerie score. 'Hydraulic Lift', 'One of Twelve' and especially 'First Encounter' all contribute to the cryptic and ambiguous feeling of Arrival.

Arrival was already a great movie but the thought provoking ending elevated Arrival to one of the best sci-fi movies. At first it's unexpected but looking back on the movie it becomes clearer all the clues that were left behind from the beginning. You could argue the twist was rushed or that the main question wasn't answered but I believe the interest of attempting to fully understand the message and theme of the movie on reflection is what Denis Villeneuve expected and anticipated.