Not A Masterpiece, An Achievement

Rating: 10/10 (5 January 2017)

Arrival was one of my most anticipated movies of 2016 I loved all the trailers for this film and the talent behind it made me even more excited to see the final product and I can safely say that I was blown away by the final product. This is a slow burning, thought provoking and incredibly intriguing Sci Fi masterpiece that I think in future years will become a classic. Amy Adams gives one of the greatest performances of her entire career in this film, she perfect embodies someone who is determined in her pursuit but damaged by her experiences and it's a performance that will hopefully give her an Oscar. Jeremy Renner was just perfect casting for this film he was incredibly convincing in this film and his chemistry with Adams was fantastic. Forrest Whitaker was great in this film and it was nice to see a different type of role from him. The slow pacing of this film worked perfectly it helped to build up the slow burning suspense and gave the characters more time to be developed better. The special effects in this film are also fantastic mainly because they are used sparingly as it is clear that the focus is more on the characters. Denis Villeneuve did such an amazing job directing this film he really sucked you into the situation and made it seem more life like. This film asks a lot of questions about humanity and how it interacts and these questions are incredibly intriguing and thought provoking it forces the audience to think on real life and accurate the events of this film are to real life. The whole mystery of why the aliens are here is done perfectly you're more that likely to change your mind at least once and when a mystery like that is built up for so long it's hard to make the eventual discovery satisfying but in this case it was, the eventual reveal makes you look at this film in an entirely different way, the film also doesn't feel the need to answer every question it asks leaving certain things ambiguous that allows the viewer to think on their own answers.
Arrival is a film that trusts the intelligence and patience of its audience, it is complex and thought provoking but is never boring or dull. This is not only the greatest film of 2016 but it's possibly one of the greatest I've ever seen. I truly believe that in the future this film will become a classic.
100%/A+