Arrival – Humanities first Contact with Aliens

Rating: 8/10 (15 November 2016)

I really wanted to see this when I learned that it was directed by Denis Villeneuve, the same director of 'Prisoners' and (one of my favourite films of 2015) 'Sicario'.
This is not a typical sci-fi alien invasion film, more a thought provoking suspense drama with a surprising amount of emotion, especially at the beginning. In the opening scene we see Amie's character suffer the death of her daughter through cancer, so the audience are immediately made to feel sympathetic and on her side.
The basic story behind this deliberately slow burning film is the first encounter between aliens and humanity. 12 alien space craft appear at 12 random landing sites around the Earth, sparking a global crisis. The world leaders (initially) work together to determine the reason for the alien visit.
We discover that the aliens will need humanities help in 3000 years. In order for humanity to help them in the future we must first be able to understand them.
Amy Adams' character (a linguistics expert) and Jeremy Renner's character (a scientist) are brought in to try and communicate with the aliens. They need to make several attempts before they eventually crack the alien's 'inky' circles that they use to communicate.
The aliens give Amy the 'gift' of knowing the future, we realise the numerous flash-back scenes are actually flash-forward scenes. It becomes apparent that Amie's character already knows of the death of her daughter, but she also knows there is nothing she can do to change anything and this really makes her appreciate the present.
The cinematography is amazing, the music score is well constructed, strong in places and sensitive in others.
Amy Adams gives another fantastic performance. The only downer for me was the Jeremy Renner character, who was probably miss-cast and a little bland for me.
Not the usual Michael Bay style invasion shoot-m-up film and definitely worth a view.