'Arrival' exhibits a different side of an overdone trope
By SOPHIE OJDANIC
SPCHS Student Journalist
In a year over-run with reactionary comic book movies (Looking at you, Batman v. Superman), crappy horror movies, and even worse romantic “comedies,” it was refreshing to catch Arrival in theaters.
Director Denis Villeneuve’s newest production focuses on a somewhat peaceful interaction with aliens, rather than the sci-fi genre’s usual tired and overdone, trope of aliens coming from space to attack. The film, starring Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, and Forest Whitaker, runs for 116 minutes and I didn’t regret watching one second of it.
The film starts with an emotional sequence, which could make viewers question whether or not they walked into the right movie. After all, the film was pitched to be a sci-fi thriller. The sci-fi aspect of the movie picks up after the emotional sequence, showing the viewers what they came to see.
Amy Adams’ character, Louise Banks, is a linguist recruited to help the U.S. Military after a UFO’s that look like pods land in major countries all over the world. Along with Forest Whitaker’s Colonel Weber and Jeremy Renner’s theoretical physicist Ian Donnelly, Banks deciphers the language of the invading alien race. These aliens, who Donnelly calls “heptapods,” communicate using circles. As Banks begins to decipher the language, she has what seem to be flashbacks of her life with her child. These visions end up giving Banks and the U.S. Military an advantage when it comes to communication with these aliens.
From start to finish, Arrival brought new twists and turns in a plot focused on coexistence with aliens, rather than a war with them. There are undertones of a romantic subplot between Donnelly and Banks, which become more prevalent near the end of the film, and the overall importance of this subplot is questionable up until the end. I question whether Renner and Adams had much chemistry on the set, because most of their romantic scenes felt odd and forced. There was a scene in the movie in which Donnelly and Banks sit in the back of pickup truck and have an odd conversation about relationship statuses and seemingly irrelevant topics. During the whole scene, I was just wondering when we were going to get back to the good part, which was the aliens.
The film makes the viewer guess throughout, hoping to decode the big question proposed in the movie: ‘what is your purpose here?’ “It [the movie] was very interesting and unusual,” moviegoer Edina Ojdanic said. “It made me think.”
The film does a great job when it comes to character development, plot development, and explanation. The science of the movie is semi-explained, but in a way that the viewer doesn’t really care if it makes sense. The film creates a sense of action and suspense without actual on-screen fighting or war sequences.
Despite some moments of clunky dialogue and a few unnecessary scenery shots, Arrival is still one of the better movies to come out this year. Its exhibition of sci-fi in a new light helps redefine the genre from which cinematic greats like Alien emerged.
Metacritic rated the movie highly, at an 80-percent. Rotten Tomatoes had a slightly higher score for Arrival, at a 93-percent. Rotten Tomatoes’ critics came to a consensus that, “Arrival delivers a must-see experience for fans of thinking person's sci-fi that anchors its heady themes with genuinely affecting emotion and a terrific performance from Amy Adams.”
SPCHS Student Journalist
In a year over-run with reactionary comic book movies (Looking at you, Batman v. Superman), crappy horror movies, and even worse romantic “comedies,” it was refreshing to catch Arrival in theaters.
Director Denis Villeneuve’s newest production focuses on a somewhat peaceful interaction with aliens, rather than the sci-fi genre’s usual tired and overdone, trope of aliens coming from space to attack. The film, starring Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, and Forest Whitaker, runs for 116 minutes and I didn’t regret watching one second of it.
The film starts with an emotional sequence, which could make viewers question whether or not they walked into the right movie. After all, the film was pitched to be a sci-fi thriller. The sci-fi aspect of the movie picks up after the emotional sequence, showing the viewers what they came to see.
Amy Adams’ character, Louise Banks, is a linguist recruited to help the U.S. Military after a UFO’s that look like pods land in major countries all over the world. Along with Forest Whitaker’s Colonel Weber and Jeremy Renner’s theoretical physicist Ian Donnelly, Banks deciphers the language of the invading alien race. These aliens, who Donnelly calls “heptapods,” communicate using circles. As Banks begins to decipher the language, she has what seem to be flashbacks of her life with her child. These visions end up giving Banks and the U.S. Military an advantage when it comes to communication with these aliens.
From start to finish, Arrival brought new twists and turns in a plot focused on coexistence with aliens, rather than a war with them. There are undertones of a romantic subplot between Donnelly and Banks, which become more prevalent near the end of the film, and the overall importance of this subplot is questionable up until the end. I question whether Renner and Adams had much chemistry on the set, because most of their romantic scenes felt odd and forced. There was a scene in the movie in which Donnelly and Banks sit in the back of pickup truck and have an odd conversation about relationship statuses and seemingly irrelevant topics. During the whole scene, I was just wondering when we were going to get back to the good part, which was the aliens.
The film makes the viewer guess throughout, hoping to decode the big question proposed in the movie: ‘what is your purpose here?’ “It [the movie] was very interesting and unusual,” moviegoer Edina Ojdanic said. “It made me think.”
The film does a great job when it comes to character development, plot development, and explanation. The science of the movie is semi-explained, but in a way that the viewer doesn’t really care if it makes sense. The film creates a sense of action and suspense without actual on-screen fighting or war sequences.
Despite some moments of clunky dialogue and a few unnecessary scenery shots, Arrival is still one of the better movies to come out this year. Its exhibition of sci-fi in a new light helps redefine the genre from which cinematic greats like Alien emerged.
Metacritic rated the movie highly, at an 80-percent. Rotten Tomatoes had a slightly higher score for Arrival, at a 93-percent. Rotten Tomatoes’ critics came to a consensus that, “Arrival delivers a must-see experience for fans of thinking person's sci-fi that anchors its heady themes with genuinely affecting emotion and a terrific performance from Amy Adams.”