excellent example of 'aim for utopia' sci-fi

Rating: 7/10 (26 March 2017)

Remember Abyss? Where the benevolent - but still threatening - aliens showed the human race that war was futile and we wept at the (cut in some versions) montage of awful things that the human race was capable of? Arrival was similar without being so dramatic.
Amy Adams lead the film well. In all honesty she carried the film as the other characters (other than her daughter) didn't really have much of a look in. It was interesting seeing Forrest Whittaker play very much the second fiddle, although he played it very much to type. Other characters were more or less obsolete, with the exception of a few nagging mozzies flying around to provide a little tension and the necessary conflict, much of which was - like a mozzie - just in need of a sharp slap. She was excellent as Linguist Louise, very understated and sedate albeit a a little too "monotone" and "internal." The whole film was a little laid back, never quite enough tension to feel any real threat, and the characters other than Amy weren't deep enough to really care about. That said, Jeremy Renner was nice, but it was never really explained exactly what his purpose was, or rather what input he achieved, in terms of the First Contact, and was in a subsidiary role to Louise.
That all said, I loved the film and I really enjoyed how it weaved the convergent narratives neatly and beautifully and kept you guessing. I wasn't surprised by the twist, and had suspected as much, noticed the little clues, but it was still really well achieved. The story was clever, simple (premise) yet intelligently brought to the screen. I think the quietness brought a strength to the simplicity but I think there wasn't enough emotion or variety of activity to make the film truly epic; not enough tension in the international political scene, or from the aliens themselves. The teaching/learning scenes were cut too short/too staccato and too much was implied and glossed over, it was if the editor was too heavy handed and trying to go for intrigue, just omitted some of the plot. There was too much process that I felt needed to be put back in, not for explanation (the plot was clear) but for interest. The learning of the language, went from "my name is..." to sentences without actually showing the process - it needed a little delineation, more explanation of the circles, as I was interested.
Mention must be made of the SFX - reminiscent of Independence Day - and faultless. The aliens "Abbott" and "Costello" were excellent; their mode of communication beautiful and the real first contact was really quite special. The (for wont of a better word) 'space ships' that the heptopods arrived in were beautiful too and some of the best SFX were their departure and their existence and presence on the screen with helicopters/ships etc, and the gravity scenes were well done.
Overall a watchable, beautiful and intelligent film, and whilst on the surface it seems perfect, and I don't need linear story lines or over-explanation of things, and it did what it was meant to do in terms of storytelling, I feel that it was missing something, the profundity of gripping emotion and heart-pounding tension. It had more scope but just fell a little short. Less is more, and I like how that is generally employed here, going against the grain of Hollywood overkill, and also how America weren't perfect, and China (the great Tzi Ma) were the heroes and leaders of the conclusion (with Louise of course). An awesome experience of cinematography that I would recommend.