Sorry, but this kind of undercooked, cod philosophical stuff doesn't achieve very much at all

Rating: 6/10 (11 June 2017)

To be honest, Arrival probably isn't intended for the likes of me: I suspect its cod philosophical theory of time and faux-profound message of world peace is more intended for idealistic young teens and folk who like a bit of little bit of deep thinking between their soaps. Me, I prefer either no depth at all and just plenty of action, or real depth which treats me as an adult and can't be having this kind of cartoon-style theorising which is intended to impress but leaves you none the wiser (and, frankly, more than a little baffled).
Having said that – and having pretty much dismissed the contents – the packaging by director Denis Villeneuve (who made 2015's far more impressive Sicario) is handsome enough and the cast do what is required of them if not much else: Amy Adams, plain enough to be convincing, adds a certain understated anguish as the super-brainy university linguist summoned by the military to help try to communicate with visiting mysterious aliens. Oh, and she was also the single mother of a young teen who succumbed to some unidentifiable affliction.
Forest Whitaker is a gruff, no-nonsense colonel who collects her in the middle of the night to take her to the mysterious aliens' mysterious vessel in mysterious Montana, but then has very little else to do. Jeremy Renner charms enough as the scientific companion to Adams's linguist, but he again does pretty much nothing except spout the occasional cod science and offer support to Adams when he realised things are getting tough on her (and eventually becomes her love interest in one of the least persuasive romances I've seen on screen).
Then there's Michael Stuhlbarg as – well, what exactly? His character is so peripheral, underwritten and underplayed that it's hard to know. You gather he is something of a villain, the government 'agent' in charge, because when Adams hits upon an easy- peasy way of achieving world peace, he's apparently not interested. Or something. The set- up is intriguing enough to hold your interest for a while: 12 extremely mysterious spacecraft (looking very much like smooth, but huge, brazil nuts in their shells, but I don't think we are intended to read too much into that) suddenly appear around the world, but the world is none the wiser as to why. They do not seem to threaten, but without somehow communicating with their inhabitants, the world is at a loss as to what to do next. Enter Adams, who had previously helped the US military with her knowledge of Farsi, and is tasked with getting through to the aliens to find out just why they came.
She does exactly that, and although there is no apparent timescale, the rise of civil unrest around the world in view of the alien visitors and their government's inaction makes is seem like it all takes place in a matter of days or possibly weeks. But our Amy's the gal, and don't you know it, she cracks it and is communicating with the seven tentacle but otherwise super-intelligent aliens like old friends! Yes, folks, that's Hollywood for you! It's a wonder the US government doesn't simply hand over all its research to the good folk of Tinseltown because these guys and gals are really no slouches.
The problem with Arrival is that it is neither fish nor fowl: the little action there is is a throwaway scene when a small group of military, fired up by right-wing TV commentators urging action, explode a bomb in the spacecraft but very little is made of that at all. In other ways it is all so sadly undercooked: the special effects and the realisation of the aliens is impressive but oddly irrelevant. The surprisingly simple – and extremely fast - deconstruction of their 'language', which also provides the key to their visit just doesn't convince. (By comparison, Jodie Foster's Contact which covers similar territory and is equally woolly still manages to persuade you of something or other.)
I have already admitted that I suspect I am not the target audience for this kind of good-looking melange. You might well be, and certainly other reviews here are far more enthusiastic. But if, like me, you – well, I shan't bang on. Sadly, Arrival, for all its production values strikes me as an opportunity missed.