An interesting take on a very common theme

Rating: 7/10 (15 November 2016)

Despite the marketing suggesting the idea that the film is more of a thriller, Arrival is actually more of a psychological drama centered on humanity.
Amy Adams plays Louise, a linguistic professor, who is enlisted by the Army to communicate with an alien species that mysteriously arrived on earth in 12 ships spread across the world.
The film is directed by Denis Villeneuve whose previous films I haven't actually seen but he definitely seems like a capable director. His style resembles that of Christopher Nolan due to his use of minimal lighting, shallow depth of field, and epigrammatic storytelling. But just like Christopher Nolan's films, sometimes the story can get weighed down by all of its complexity.
The beginning of the film is, in my opinion, the strongest section. The director does an excellent job of approaching this common story of aliens in a very pragmatic way. We feel the uneasiness of the sudden situation that mankind finds itself in. When Louise is approached by the Army and becomes involved, we understand her desperation to be a part of it. This eventually leads to the first contact, which was an incredibly suspenseful collection of scenes. But once that moment finally came, the rest of the film started to feel sluggish.
The bulk of the film is Louise attempting to tactfully communicate with the aliens in order to ask the big question: What is your purpose on Earth? The problem is that despite how interesting it was to see how a linguist would break down a language, the film comes to an absolute stand still. There is montages, narrations, and random visions that push the story along but the scenes felt dragging and out of place. It isn't until towards the end that everything starts to pick back up again. Once the big question was finally answered by the aliens, I found the outcome quite grandiose. Then when the twist came, despite figuring it out beforehand, I felt like I was misled. Don't get me wrong, it connected everything. But in the end I just didn't really understand certain character motives.
Even though the film has its share of small flaws, Arrival is still deserving of a watch.