'If you could see your whole life from start to finish, would you change things?'

Rating: 10/10 (18 February 2017)

ARRIVAL is a refreshing science fiction story that allows the audience to approach the concept of alien visits as something of value rather than the beginning of the end. No comic book antics in this sensitive film based on Ted Chiang's story 'Story of Your Life' and adapted with great skill by screenplay author Eric Heisserer. This is a film that asks us to ask questions about our place in the universe and in the cycle of life using the visitation of extraterrestrials as the stimulus. Denis Villeneuve directs with consummate skill.
The dialogue of the film has many rare insights – words that come form the characters such as 'Language is the foundation of civilization. It is the glue that holds a people together. It is the first weapon drawn in a conflict' and 'But now I'm not so sure I believe in beginnings and endings. There are days that define your story beyond your life. Like the day they arrived.'
The story line as action is simple – a factor that enhances the importance of the message of the film. Twelve mysterious spacecraft appear around the world. Linguistics professor Louise Banks (Amy Adams) is tasked with interpreting the language of the apparent alien visitors with the assistance of theoretical physicist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner). They join the Army team led by Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker) in Montana – one of the twelve areas where the craft have landed. Banks job is to try to learn the aliens' language and enable communication with them. Through regular meetings with two of the aliens she starts to compile a record of the aliens' "language" - a series of drawn symbols. The important question is - are they friend or foe? Other nations with alien landings are starting to view them as a threat, making it a race against time as war with the aliens could erupt at any moment.
With extraordinary cinematography by Bradford Young and a pitch perfect atmospheric musical score by Jóhann Jóhannsson (with a little help from Antonín Dvořák!) and first class acting by both Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner, this is a film that should be marked as a 'must see' experience – for many many reasons – especially at this point in our earthbound history.