I stared at a blank screen for over 10 minutes wondering what I should write about Arrival, a science-fiction film starring Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker and two aliens that Adams’s character, Louise, and Renner’s character, Ian, named Abbott and Costello. Especially since it had to be a spoiler-free something.
In short, Arrival deals with the threat of alien invasion, keeps you on the edge of the seat, is subtle, profound and knocks your breath out with the final twist. So much so that it made the audience of 12 at the paid preview at Inox Quest on Thursday night, sit up and gasp in unison. I went more like ‘son of a b***h, son of a b***h’, but you get the drift.
The first thing that strikes you about the film is that it is a refreshing change, not just in pace, but also in the way alien-invasion films usually play out. Oh the tropes are all there — there are alien ships that appear on earth, there is mounting tension as people try to determine if the extra-terrestrials have come in peace or to annihilate, there is the world poised on the brink of war. But there are no loud explosions (there is just one small one), no blowing up of buildings or destruction of cities, everything that has become par for the course in not just alien invasion films but also every summer blockbuster in the last few years. Yet, it still manages to keep you on the edge of your seat, taut with tension and often dread.
Second, like any good science fiction, Arrival is also a social commentary on the state of the world today. In The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), a film that Arrival is closest in mould to, Klaatu’s warning to the people of Earth about changing their ways if they want to save it from destruction was a response to the post-World War II tensions. And like Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Arrival spells out the importance of communication and cooperation, especially in a world torn apart by suspicion and mistrust, and to rise above the divisions and factions that rule earth at present.
When Louise says that even though they had figured out a part of the ETs’ written language, they were far from ready to communicate the big questions of why they were there, without risk of miscommunication. And it is exactly a misunderstanding of the alien’s language that almost divides up the world and threatens war.
Arrival is not a film that is there to incite gasps and screams but to make you think. Really how much of how we perceive things, people, situations is influenced by the language we speak? How often do things fall apart because we don’t take the time to understand? Would we make different choices if we were allowed to live our lives again?
Arrival also touches upon the fourth dimension of time — something that was brought up in the much-lauded Interstellar. Well this one does it way, way better and focuses on what happens when our understanding of time changes and how we are affected by it. I can’t say any more without spoiling the film for you.
The film has some superior acting as well, especially Amy Adams who definitely deserves an Oscar nod — for her turn as Louise Banks, the linguist tasked with deciphering the language of the aliens — as should the film. Adams portrays a wide range of emotions from loss, loneliness, grief and frustration to strength, love, wonder, joy and awe. There is a sense of calm about her, even when her hands are shaking as they first meet the heptapods, that is not only soothing but also makes her the anchor through the film.
Jeremy Renner as the somewhat goofy scientist Ian Donnelly is a perfect foil for Adams. I am not the biggest Renner fan and I must say I was very pleasantly surprised by his performance.
Last but not the least the film looks stunning. The polished chrome-like obelisk (there are 11 others over other locations) hanging silently in the backdrop of green mountains looks picture perfect. I love how we only see the pod clearly the first time Adams sees it. And that first time we enter the alien pod is just magical — from Renner and Adams feeling the cobbled surface of the pod with wonder in their eyes, to gravity being turned on its head to the misty opening like a TV screen through which we see the heptapods. Then there are the aliens themselves with their star-shaped tentacles through which they write in inky stains.
Yes, the film may seem a little slow in the build-up, but I promise, in the end every scene and every frame is worth it. Arrival is a sci-fi film that you... hell it is just a film that you really need to watch.
