Best sci-fi movie in years

Rating: Null/10 (16 January 2017)

Arrival seemed to kind of come out of nowhere. Released at the end of the year without a ton of promotion and publicity, the film has nonetheless had tremendous staying power and has continued to build its box office gross through word of mouth, becoming one of the surprise hits of the past year. While not a mega Blockbuster like Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (also a solid recommendation), the success of Arrival proves that audiences still respond to stories that aren't dependent on wall to wall action and explosions. Some may see Arrival as boring. The marketing, after all, made the film seem more action-packed than the final cut actually is. But even if the movie isn't always super fast paced, it's always at least interesting and intriguing to watch. Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner give probably the best performances of their careers, giving life to characters that might not have seemed completely three-dimensional on the page. Renner and Adams share great chemistry and absolutely sell moments that could have come off cheesy or schmaltzy. The selling point of Arrival may be the alien story line, but Renner and Adams are the movie. This is really an actors' movie. However, my only one complaint about Arrival is there could have been one or two more scenes developing Renner's character and his motivations/relationship with Adams. Doing so would have been the finale slightly stronger, even it still an extremely effective ending. There are those who will be split on the ending of Arrival. Some will love it, others will absolutely hate it. I found it to be the most memorable ending of any movie of 2016. The ending begs audiences to rewatch the movie again, something I'll have no problem doing in the near future. Arrival is the best sci-fi film to come out in years. 9/10