*MINOR SPOILERS*
A lot of people are raving about this film, mentioning that Amy Adams is in Oscar territory for this movie. Do I agree with that? Well, lets find out.
Arrival is a 2016 sci-fi/drama film directed by Denis Villeneuve, and is based on the short story Story of Your Life, by author Ted Chiang. The film stars Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, and Forest Whitaker as the military recruits a linguist to assist in translating alien communications after twelve mysterious extraterrestrial spacecrafts touch down across Earth.
So this movie is an interesting change in pace for me when it comes to movie reviews here on theVade. Unlike what most people were expecting out of this film, it was by no means an alien invasion type of movie. I knew this going into the film, but I still felt a little disappointed while walking out. Before I discuss what I didn’t really enjoy about this film, I’m gonna talk about things I really enjoyed. So to start things off, the acting was great. Yes, Amy Adams did a fantastic job in this film, but Oscar territory? I don’t know. As an audience member, I personally connected with Jeremy Renner’s character a lot more than Adams. He was the geeky science nerd that helped provide much needed comic relief when the story really needed some. I felt like he represents the audience a lot more than Adams did. Whether this is true for you, that might be different. In the end, the most annoying character out of this film has to be Michael Stuhlbarg’s character. Yes, I understand he is suppose to be the “antagonist” in this film, but there’s no real reason for it. He doesn’t have true purpose to back his intentions, and I felt like he was put in specifically to give the story a physical antagonist. As for Forest Whitaker? Again, I felt like anyone could of played his part and done a fine job at it. Is that a bad thing? Well, make of it what you please.
The real heart of the story is within its design and presentation. Wow, does this film build suspense. The camera angles, blurred background, and overall tone was a wicked awesome effect. The cinematography alone was a piece of art, and I believe that this is film with just as much depth in the way they shot each scene as well as the way story unfolds. To give an example, we only get to see the ships when the director wants us to see the ships, otherwise they are left out of frame or completely blurred into the background. Gah! This is such a cool effect. And one last thing before moving on.. The sound design and soundtrack.. holy cow guys.. a masterpiece right here. I honestly don’t know how to explain this one, as it is something you have to experience. There are times of silence in this film which add so much suspense, and when the soundtrack is playing.. god it will creep you the F out. Bravo sound team!
But as I always say, no film is without sin, and this one has a pretty big one. I actually went and saw this with a couple friends, and about two thirds of the way through all three of us were lost. Not like, “Oh, what do you think happened there?” But more along the lines of, “Uh, do you know what’s going on? Cause I’m lost as hell..” This was such a disappointment to me as the the film completely screws the audience over about two thirds of the way into the film. Just to spoil it for you, the story is told with the idea that the beginning is the end and the end is the beginning. Sure it’s a “reveal” of sorts, but if it was to be left out entirely it wouldn’t be all that interesting. If the story was told in chronological order there would be no question as to what’s going on. Yet, the writing of this film screws the audience over to purposefully confuse them, and that’s just not cool. Unlike the Prestige which I believe has one of the greatest plot twist in cinematic history, the truth is in front of you the entire time, you’re just not paying close enough attention to it. While in this movie, on the other hand, the writers purposefully mix things up to try and confuse you so that the twist seems a lot greater than you expected. Sorry Arrival, but that’s just not good writing.
After all that, there wasn’t much more that I disliked about this film. The build up from the first two acts quickly dies off as soon as confusion sets in with the third act, and that is what honestly led to the rating I decided to give this film. In the end, I gave Arrival a “Good” on theVade Review Bar. It had everything it needed to succeed, but the execution of its story will definitely turn off people wanting to truly understand this film. Ultimately, Arrival came in as one of the most interesting films of 2016, but will not be staying in people’s minds for very long.
