Arrival

 3/4

Starring: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker, Michael Stuhlbarg, Tzi Ma

Rated PG-13 for Brief Strong Language

What would happen if, or as some might say, when, beings from another planet visited ours?

I suppose it depends on who you ask, doesn't it?  Just look at how differently the question has been expressed on film.  Roland Emmerich believes it will lead to destruction and violence if his "Independence Day" franchise offers any insight into his viewpoint.  Steven Spielberg believes they will be benevolent explorers like in "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial" or "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (an exception must be made for his "War of the Worlds" remake).  Neil Blomkamp, who made "District 9," apparently believes that our penchant for xenophobia and violence will lead to misery for everyone.

I'm not sure what director Denis Villeneuve believes will be the result when aliens come to visit.  Perhaps our reaction will be as diverse as our species is.  Some will be frightened, others will be curious, and still others will be suspicious.  The director takes great care to express all these responses to the situation without judgement.  Like all the great directors, he's an observer who lets his characters speak for themselves.

"Arrival" is about communication.  Communication with the visitors, obviously.  If that is, in fact, what they are.  It is about communication with each other.  When everyone is facing the same crisis, it helps to share information, us being who we are, such things do not occur without difficulty or suspicion.  And it is also about communication with ourselves.  What do we believe?  How would we react to this situation?  More to the point, would our personalities and experiences lead us to act differently than we would like to believe.  In other words, would our pasts and intrinsic personalities lead us to great good or great evil?

It starts out like any other day for linguistics professor Louise Banks (Adams).  She goes to campus and prepares for her lecture.  It soon becomes obvious that this isn't going to be any normal day.  People are huddled around their smartphones and their TV sets.  The sense of apprehension and wonder that accompanies any dramatic development is palpable (the first time I saw this movie, I was brought back to when I first became aware of the attacks on the twin towers).  Huge, half-oval monoliths have appeared all across the globe.  What are they?  How did they get here?  Colonel G.T. Weber (Whitaker) has tasked her to answer those questions.  Together with physicist Ian Donnelly (Renner), she will try to answer the most important question of all: why have they come?

"What do you want?"  It's such a simple question.  But it is so powerful.  It speaks volumes about a person (or being, in this case).  Are the heptopods, as they are known, friendly or hostile?  Why Earth?  Why now?  And for what purpose?

"Arrival" is unusually perceptive in the way it deals with communication in ways most of us take for granted.  There are so many questions that need to be asked before Louise and Ian can get anywhere.  How do the heptapods communicate?  How can they get information from these creatures in ways they will understand?  Again, it comes down to communication.  How you ascertain information is just as important as getting it.

Amy Adams is one of our most gifted actresses, having burst onto the spotlight in 2006 with a star-making performance in "Junebug."  Adams avoids her tendency to get hammy by keeping Louise grounded.  She's dealing with a lot of personal issues, such as the death of her daughter.  But she's there to do a job, and her curiosity is able to, for the most part, push away her darkest thoughts.  It's one of her best performances, and Villeneuve made the correct decision to anchor the film around her.  Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker, Michael Stuhlbarg, and in a small but crucial role, Tzi Ma, provide solid support, but this is her show.

To be perfectly frank, I'm not a big fan of Denis Villeneuve.  He knows what he is doing, but he takes his films more seriously than they deserve.  Still, there's no denying that he is reaching for the stars here.  He has accomplished the task of dramatizing such abstract concepts as communication and another (which I won't spoil).  His vision occasionally threatens to exceed his grasp, but he does a good job with this material.

"Arrival" is pure science fiction.  It belongs in the same category as other idea heavy sci-fi movies like "Contact," "Interstellar" and "Ad Astra."  There's little conventional action (the brief scenes of gunfire occur off screen and in news reels, and are not especially important) but plenty of suspense and high drama.  This is a movie that demands thought and active engagement from the viewer.  For those who are willing to meet the film on its own terms, the rewards are worth it.