Faint yet High Praise

Rating: 9/10 (16 April 2017)

Arrival I'm a bit late in my review on this film, but, when you consider the theme of time as a non linear force that threads its way through this film, perhaps I'm not actually late at all. I haven't been a very big fan of director Denis Villeneuve's work. Those who know me, know that I love odd and I love weird, but I just can't bring myself to forgive Villeneuve for what I consider to be the silly and unearned metaphor at the ending of Enemy or the long overwrought pointless tension of Prisoners. I just didn't buy into either of those film's premises. I understood what Villeneuve was trying to do in both films. So please stop trying to tell me that I just missed the point. I got the point in both cases. I just thought that the point was stupid. I probably would not have started watching Arrival if I had have known it was directed by Villeneuve. But in this film, Villeneuve seems to take a page out of Terrence Malick's playbook in the way that the story fades in and out of time with a dreamlike quality. And that gives Arrival exactly the right tone for its subject matter. The film, about a translator who is brought in to try to translate the language of aliens who have mysteriously visited the earth in different locations around the earth, falls down in a few places with the logic of its science and the behaviour of some of the characters. And it's not an easy movie. At times its dreamlike quality leaves you struggling to make sense of what exactly is going on or why you should care about what's going on. But in the end Arrival strives to be better than just another visited by aliens movie. It never indulges in easy emotional moments or in treating the audience like we're too stupid to understand it. The cast, including Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner and the very underrated Forest Whitaker, is excellent, and the film makes you stop and think about how we take communication for granted and how difficult it could actually be if aliens were ever to actually pay us a visit to actually communicate with them. It is a very smart and challenging movie. Like much of Malick's work, and like most of Villeneuve's work, it is often flawed and imperfect. Yet Arrival, I think, is better than its flaws, and challenges us in a very interesting way. It's not a movie for everybody. But the fact that it does win over someone like me, who has never liked a Denis Villeneuve film before this, may give you a sense why you might want to watch it. I do recommend Arrival. In fact, I recommend it quite highly. It tries to be better than the usual fare in this genre. And in my opinion in succeeds more than it fails. This may seem like faint praise. But I mean it as very high praise indeed. Arrival is not like any other movie of its ilk that you are likely to see. It may not be for everyone, but it is more than worth the effort and the time to watch it and make up your mind about it yourself. Many of you should see Arrival. Not because it is perfect. But because it is not trying to be every other movie that you've ever seen. There is a famous story about two film critics being overheard as they cam out of a screening of Stanley Kubrick's 2001 when it was first released. One critic is said to have turned to the other and said "I don't know if I've just seen the greatest movie ever made or if I should be asking for my money back.". Many movies since have tried to approach the high intelligence of Kubrick's great masterpiece. Arrival comes as close as any I've seen. For me that is the highest praise that I can give it. It's not 2001. But it comes close to being as enigmatic and as thought provoking. If you hated 2001, and many people do, don't go out and see Arrival. If you loved 2001 however, then Arrival may be about as close as you're going to get to a film that matches it. It doesn't quite get there. But the fact that it tries, the fact that it almost gets there, makes it worthy of attention. Not by everyone. But by those of us who want film to be more than mere entertainment. For those of us who like to be challenged and to be made to think, really think. Taken all in all, I think that Arrival is a great film. Don't go to see it if you're expecting anything like the many Star Wars sequels. But do see it if you want more than big explosions and catch phrases from a film. Do see Arrival if want more from a film than for it to be easy and obvious. And I do mean that as very high praise indeed.