Flight Delayed

Rating: 4/10 (15 November 2016)

(RATING: ☆☆ out of 5) THIS FILM IS NOT RECOMMENDED. IN BRIEF: A boring intellectual sci-fi dud. GRADE: C- SYNOPSIS: Another alien invasion, but more seriously-minded. JIM'S REVIEW: One may find this review a bit odd as I begin discussing Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, but bear with me. This popular 40's comic duo, known for their classic skit, Who's on First, a comic confrontation involving quick verbal wordplay, have an indirect link with Denis Villeneuve's Arrival, but one yearns for their lightning-fast patter to replace the slowly-paced dialog in this slog of a sci-fi thriller. The wordplay in Eric Heisserer's boring screenplay is in need of some of that raw energy although the director's visual dexterity does momentarily disguise the film's numerous flaws. This movie-going experience is interested in the thought-provoking cosmos more akin to Close Encounters of the Third Kind than the usual Independence Day mayhem. Are these visitors dangerous extraterrestrials bent on world domination...or do they travel in peace? The director and screenwriter leave that question dangling throughout this film as we earthlings come to terms with their sudden invasion to our planet. Panic has invaded the thoughts and minds of the denizens of Earth (much like the recent election results from America have permeated our mindsets). Only this time the life-form in question is not orange-tinted, rather grayish in tone. Twelve hovering pod-like spacecrafts with their visitors safely aboard now dot our global skies, a shocking reminder that we are not alone. Coming to our aid is Louise Banks, a linguist who is enlisted to decipher their message. As others become unnerved, Louise stays the course. Fascinated by our visitors' communication, a series of swirling inkblots that languish in the air, she becomes consumed with their visual exchanges of information. It gives her purpose and helps her forget about family tragedies which overwhelm her. Louise's depression no longer becomes an option. She forms an uneasy alliance with Ian Donnelly (an underused Jeremy Renner), a handsome astrophysicist as they try to decode their uninvited guests' contact and symbolic language. Of course, they must also contend with military and government officials who are leery of these foreign interlopers and eager to blast them out of the skies. Arrival plays more like a psychological mystery than a sci-fi thriller, an intellectual debate about them vs. us. The film takes an engaging premise and repeatedly deconstructs its plot with too much talk and too little action. It sets up a confusing narrative structure which follows an inconsistent non-linear set of rules that ultimately disappoints its audience. As Louise tries to unravel this on-going mystery, the past yields to the present in flash-backs and flash-forwards to the point of vertigo. Time is not the moviegoer's friend in this story. It jumbles parallel story lines awkwardly, making the dramatic personal backstory sketchy and lacking clarity. Instead, the movie concentrates on the alien visit and becomes a lesson in cryptography, physics, grammar, and basic reading comprehension skills. The film deliberately shifts from past, present, and future parsing into the imperfect tense. Unfortunately, the film's syntax never creates a well-formed thought, believable character, or logical rationale. All of the film's overdone intellectualizing dooms this mission. Its analytical theorizing is simply lost in translation. The film is more enamored of listening to its own voice than thoroughly explaining the plot or its outcome. In fact, the film's final twist is completely underwhelming and unsatisfying. Yes, there are a few assets to the film, particularly Amy Adam's fine performance as Louise. She is the only well defined character in the movie and the actress anchors the weightlessness of the script's banal dialog and heavy-handed exposition. Arrival is also well crafted and earnest to a fault. Mr. Villeneuve's visuals are solid throughout and Johann Johannsson's dissonant music score is quite effective in adding to the eeriness of the proceedings. Arrival wants to ask and answer many questions about the mysteries of our universe. But perhaps, it should start by asking itself, "Who's on first?" The answer being: "I dunno."