Arrival is Superb Science Fiction, and More

Rating: 9/10 (13 November 2016)

Science fiction often works best when used as an allegory or a metaphor, compelling the viewer to become a participant in the story, and to examine his or her own feelings or reactions to the drama on screen or a similar situation which might be occurring in society.
In Paramount Pictures' Arrival, released Friday, a linguist and a theoretical physicist are recruited by US military intelligence when twelve interplanetary vehicles appear simultaneously around the world. The objective of the two civilians is to discern the intentions of the alien visitors, in order that the country is able to respond appropriately. The mission becomes even more critical when the other countries hosting the unexpected visitors begin to react to them with hostility.
Arrival was adapted by screenwriter Eric Heisserer from author Ted Chiang's award-winning novella Story of Your Life, which successfully interwove sentiment and science fiction with the notion that the course of one's life is pre-determined prior to birth. That Heisserer's previous screen writing credits are mostly in peripheral horror pictures such as Lights Out and entries in the Nightmare on Elm Street and Final Destination canons does not necessarily give the viewer an accurate idea of what to expect from Arrival.
Which is to say, the picture works beautifully on all levels. Denis Villeneuve, the director of last year's superb international crime drama Sicario, works with Heisserer to lead the picture with humanity, allowing the science fiction elements to follow in a more effective fashion. Arrival with its complex structure lends credibility to a story which in more sensational hands might've become just another lurid interplanetary shoot-'em-up. As in Chiang's novella, two stories are told simultaneously, but flow together easily and effortlessly to create one large picture.
And the picture's casts works with intelligence and a quiet forcefulness to deliver the message. Amy Adams is a remarkably talented actress who always seems to be standing just short of major international superstardom. Usually found delivering rich and credible performances in movies as diverse as American Hustle and Man of Steel, The Muppets and Disney's Enchanted, Adams as the linguist in Arrival delivers an eminently believable performance in a difficult role which might well be her most multi-dimensional and emotionally-invested characterization to date.
At the time she's persuaded by the government to help determine the intentions of the visitors, Adams' Dr. Louise Banks is recovering from an acutely vulnerable point in her life, unknowing that the very sensitivity caused by a recent devastating experience will provide the key to her ability to communicate with the visitors.
Adams gives persuasive voice to the languages and technical jargon required of the role, but allows her eyes to wordlessly convey a sense of wounded humanity. The viewer feels her emotional pain, and as a result not only wants to see her succeed in her mission, but also is willing to work along with her in order to do so. Intense concentration is required from both the actress and the viewer to realize the picture's considerable impact.
Jeremy Renner, an underrated actor often found performing in action adventures and comic book adaptations, contributes a previously untapped dimension of bemused authority to his role. As the theoretical physicist working alongside Adams' linguist to interpret the intentions of the alien visitors, Renner does not simply don a pair of eyeglasses to suggest intelligence. Instead, in a role which might've become cartoonish or showy in less-capable hands, Renner works with quiet determination and sly humor to fashion from his role a characterization as vivid as Heisserer's screenplay allows.
Equally persuasive is the always-reliable Forest Whitaker as the US military intelligence colonel who recruits both Adams and Renner to communicate with the otherworldly guests. Whitaker with his sleepy-eyed, good-natured countenance has often during his long career worked successfully as men of conscience struggling to comprehend a difficult situation before erupting into impulsive action.
In Arrival Whitaker delivers another such characterization, and more. I found myself wishing Whitaker had more screen time, but such a wish seems to occur every time he appears in a picture. It's difficult to believe Forest Whitaker's been in films long enough to have delivered finely-crafted performances in such motion picture classics as Platoon and The Color of Money, as well as the title roles of Lee Daniels' The Butler, The Last King of Scotland and Clint Eastwood's Bird, the latter two of which earned him Academy Award recognition.
Arrival represents the entire array of contributing artists working at peak performance, on all levels. The ultimate messages of the picture—that we're all here to help each other, every experience is a good one, and time is all we have—are a hopeful antidote to the pessimism if our times.
Science fiction, when it works well, adapts itself to the age and allows the viewer to interpret the message in his or her own way. The Thing from Another World, It Came from Outer Space and several other alien invasion pictures of the 1950s mirrored the us-versus-them hostility of the post-World War II era. Invasion of the Body Snatchers in 1956 showed us the futility of McCarthyism and the Communist Witch-Hunt. And television's beloved Star Trek and The Twilight Zone during the 1960s mirrored in any number of episodes the dichotomy of advanced civilization juxtaposed with the intolerance and hostility of the times.
It'll be interesting to learn the reaction to Arrival, with its message of cooperation, during a period in time when much of our world seems to be building walls of hostility rather than bridges of communication.