If you get the time to see Canadian director Denis Villeneuve’s (Prisoners, Sicario) Arrival you will leave the theatre questioning the very concept of time itself.
Coupling philosophical questions with the standard alien sci-fi is the new norm these days after the success of films by Christoper Nolan but Arrival has beaten them all.
Amy Adams (Man of Steel and American Hustle) plays drained linguistics professor Dr Louise Banks whose expertise is called upon by the US military when 12 egg-like spaceships arrive to hover a few metres above Earth.
Jeremy Renner plays theoretical physicist Ian Donnelly who joins her to try to communicate with the aliens on board the ship.
The aliens look like the roots of trees and their symbols look like coffee cup stains but not once are you left thinking it’s silly.
Adams and Renner eventually crack their language and start conversing with them but as is generally the case the world’s militaries start freaking out and are foaming at the mouth to push the little red ‘nuke’ button.
Beautifully shot and fantastically scored this film has you in awe right the way through.
It explores concepts of time and language as a vehicle of understanding the world and how perceptions can change based on the language you’re thinking and communicating with.
This film takes you in one direction and tears you somewhere else entirely near the end in a twist that would make M. Night Shyamalan proud.
I would even say the twist is one of the best in any film over the past five years.
I love this new wave of ‘artsy’ sci-fi, it’s taking the genre to places that non-traditional audiences can connect with.
There are some plot points that could have been explored better. The reason Adams was brought on by the military was to ask the aliens what their purpose was and by the end of the movie that question is still very unknown.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Rating: M
In cinemas now
