Arrival follows in the tradition of 2001 and Close Encounters, offering the kind of hair-raising awe and wondrous rapture which preserves the large-scale, intelligent science-fiction film’s cinematic niche at a stage when so many other genres have fallen to the margins. Based on a story by sci-fi cult hero Ted Chiang, Arrival follows a linguist expert (Amy Adams) who must assist inter-species communication when aliens lands across the globe in gigantic, mysterious pods. It is intelligently constructed and exceedingly somber, which, while surprising for a major American film release, is not a surprise for director Denis Villeneuve.
Villeneuve is in the midst of a fantastic streak of visually exciting, thematically rich films, although I’d argue Arrival is a (very) small step back: working with an all-star cast on a large budget, Arrival is not as riveting or thrilling as his previous mainstream Hollywood film (Sicario), nor as ominous and unsettling as his last indie release (Enemy). But what it lacks in narrative credibility (depictions of the military and global politics don’t hold water), it makes up for in narrative construction and design: Arrival skillfully plays off of our desire to see the mundane transformed into the otherworldly. A 150-foot tall egg-shaped pod hangs over an unassuming Montana field, cryptic messages are delivered via kindergarten vocab words, and a chirping canary represents the fine line between transcendence and annihilation. In Arrival, which boasts a unique, genuinely stunning plot twist, an oft-told story of universal fear and wonder is re-imagined it in a more personal, human light.
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