Arrival

Based on a short story by Ted Chiang, Arrival follows linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams) as she’s enlisted to communicate with visiting aliens alongside a brilliant physician (Jeremy Renner’s Ian Donnelly) – with the movie detailing the pair’s ongoing efforts at discerning just what the mysterious creatures want (or expect) from humanity. It’s perhaps not surprising to discover that filmmaker Denis Villeneuve has infused Arrival with an often excessively deliberate pace, as the movie, written by Eric Heisserer, generally comes off as a subdued character study that just happens to transpire against the backdrop of an alien visitation – with a good chunk of the narrative devoted to Adams’ character’s tragic past and the degree to which it informs her current efforts. There is, as such, little doubt that Arrival, though consistently watchable, is rarely as compelling or engrossing as one might’ve anticipated, with the movie instead only wholeheartedly grabbing the viewer’s interest and attention on a rather sporadic basis (eg Louise and company’s first contact with the aliens is nothing short of electrifying). (It’s clear, too, that the arms-length atmosphere is perpetuated by Bradford Young’s often distractingly hazy cinematography.) The movie’s art-house vibe, however, is admittedly a refreshing change from the CGI-and-action-heavy nature of most science-fiction blockbusters, and it’s certainly difficult not to embrace the almost aggressively cerebral bent of Heisserer’s occasionally impenetrable screenplay. (On the other hand, the film’s quiet, internal atmosphere ensures that the emotional revelations of the film’s final stretch are, to put it mildly, muted.) It’s ultimately impossible to either entirely embrace or completely dismiss Arrival, with the film’s polarizing, love-it-or-hate-it execution sure to provoke arguments and discussions long after the end credits have rolled.

**1/2 out of ****