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Plot
The film Arival tells the narrative of linguistics expert Louise, who is tasked by the US government with decoding the language of strangers aboard the massive monolithic ships that emerge out of nowhere, floating above various sites across the world. As a result, she travels to the American facility in Montana and begins working with scientist Ian (Jeremy Renner) and Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker). These seven-legged critters, who communicate with unique tones and symbols, will undoubtedly surprise her. When coordinated attempts with other teams around the world fail, no one shares data, and military commanders decide to destroy the ships on their own.
But, believing that she is about to learn something significant, Louise persists in following a line that worries everyone, even... you will have to find out this on your own 😉!
Why should you watch it?
The main reason is that Arrival is an atypical alien movie, more original than any other that I have ever seen.
The alien entities in Arrival aren't as frightening or spectacular as the spaceships in Independence Day or the tripods in The War of the Worlds, nor as cryptic as the monolith in 2001: Space Odyssey or the creatures that contact the protagonists in Interstellar, but they manage to engross and fascinate in a story that only superficially evolves in a slow and verbose manner, but that, upon closer examination, reveals a more complex and deep message based on the need for cooperation and dialogue between human beings of different ethnicities, religions, and consciences.
As a result, communication ceases to be an instrument and instead becomes a means of understanding and comprehending one another in the interest of peaceful and productive collaboration.
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Many examples are given in Arrival of how, throughout history, humans have always fought battles to assert their control over others who are weaker, without first attempting to communicate with them. In reality, this is where the film's uniqueness lies: being able to represent a new extraterrestrial race as wanting to learn about our people and then be assisted in their history, rather than as a threat (as is the case in most films of this kind). And language is used to express this quest for knowledge.
Language has been the only thing capable of connecting people of the same nation since its beginning, thus it is a critical component that must be used to grasp the genuine intentions of someone we do not know, rather than judging them based on preconceptions. The aliens are also depicted in a unique way, with excellent CGI, to make them appear as classic representations of Death, as opposed to humans, who are instead representations of Life, as stated by the director.
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The first half of the film is devoted to Louise's encounters with the aliens; in fact, Louise manages to teach them human language, to which the aliens answer with specific symbols. Symbols that will be thoroughly analyzed and, thanks to Louise, will be interpreted.
The first thought that comes to mind is, "Why did they come here?" "What is their goal?" is a question to which the answer will be revealed only at the end of the film, and it is everything but obvious. Arrival catches the viewer's attention from the opening minutes, completely immersing her/him in the story and allowing her/him to empathize with the protagonists and share their feelings, as well as their doubts and worries.
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It answers every issue that is posed, and despite the fact that there are no major twists and turns throughout the film, the best is saved for the end, which completely changes everything that has gone before.
Why shouldn't you watch it?
If you expect to see a "classic" alien movie, complete with death rays, shocks, screamed military, and terrifying and lovely creatures: Arrival is not for you; it's dark without being a thriller, serious without being military.
Then there's its emotional side, which is nearly corny in both meaning and aesthetics, and which some may find overbearing and/or incongruent with the rest.
Finally, there is a maybe excessive acceleration in the story's unfolding before the conclusion.
Conclusion
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Arrival is a unique film, both in terms of its content and in terms of the genre to which it belongs. It succeeds as science fiction and alien film because it imagines the other from an empathic perspective: aliens and humans converse as people rather than as monsters or foes.
But, unlike any other space mission/alien film, Arrival engages for primarily human reasons, and it does so with style. It's a good film that benefits from its director's main talent: the ability to have a highly recognizable point of view, a personal style, while always remaining at the service of the film and never getting in the way of the spectator or characters.
Rating
My personal vote is:
