Arrival - directed by Denis Villeneuve
This movie represents something of a sweet spot for me.
Amy Adams directed by Denis Villeneuve - it doesn't get much better than that.
Villeneuve is three for three at this point.
I loved "Prisoners" and "Enemy" and of course the recent "Sicario" was exceptional.
Adams I have been a fan of since "Catch Me If You Can" - a role that was supposed to ignite her career but didn't. She had to wait until "Junebug" for that inevitability to happen.
So with one of the finest actresses working today (and I think THE finest) directed by a director who has gone from strength to strength we should have a recipe for excellence.
And that is indeed what we get.
"Arrival" is hardly an original concept for a movie but its execution is.
Twelve alien ships park up at various spots around the world.
The monolithic black disc / ovals are somewhat reminiscent of the ones in "Independence Day" but any comparisons between the two films should end right there.
While Roland Emmerich's 1996 blockbuster is pure popcorn spectacle (and great as such) "Arrival" is a science fiction movie through and through.
If you imagine "Interstellar" with a dash of "Contact" and just a smidge of "The Day the Earth Stood Still" you will get an idea of the tone but still not much of a clue as to exactly what this film is doing.
Like "Interstellar" there are themes relating to parenthood but to say much more would be to spoil the surprise (and pleasure) in letting this film play out.
Adams' character Louise is a language expert but when we meet her in the opening scenes she is narrating the story of her child who we see as a baby, a toddler, a young girl and finally a teenager at which point she is struck down by an unnamed disease.
We see Louise going on with her life teaching languages until things are tipped upside down by the arrival of the alien ships.
Louise is recruited by an army Colonel (Forest Whitaker) to try to decipher the language used by the beings aboard the ship hovering over Montana.
She meets a physicist (Renner) and they form part of the team who will try to figure out what the visitors want.
Pressure arrives in the form of increasingly nervous foreign parties - particularly the Chinese who seem highly likely to launch strikes against the ships and drag Russia and others with them.
The focus of the action stays mainly with the attempts to figure out the alien language but the external pressure is felt very much adding quite some tension to the film.
The aliens intentions are left unknown for much of the movie so there is also the possibility that they may have malicious intent.
There is a lot of invention in the form that the aliens take but even more so in the language that they use.
Some will call this a slow movie and maybe even a boring one but I was captivated by the communication system that the aliens employed and by Louise's attempts to learn it.
The method by which the humans get aboard the ship is also very different and makes perfect sense.
There is an awful lot to spoil with this movie and in truth it is not an easy movie to recommend as a result.
I do recommend it - very strongly - specially if you are a science fiction fan but there isn't a lot to present to a person dubious about its appeal.
There are no whiz-bang space battles and the special effects serve purely as necessary aspects in the storytelling rather than adrenaline pumping moments of action.
What I will say is that this is yet more evidence that the Blade Runner sequel could not be in better hands than Villeneuve's.
He has total command of the tone, themes and structure.
His frequent music score collaborator Johan Johannsson's score is moody and minimalist for the most part with pounding moments when called for.
It is also somewhat reminiscent of the "Interstellar" score by Hans Zimmer.
Adams is utterly superb giving a performance of subtlety and depth - emotions bubbling just under the surface.
She is required to impart much with just an expression and as good as I find her normally this is absolutely one of her very best pieces of work.
A fantastic movie.
RATING: 85 / 100
CONCLUSION: A genuinely great science fiction movie - smart, compelling and like the best of the genre functions on multiple levels.
Starring: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Michael Stuhlbarg, Forest Whitaker, Mark O'Brien, Tzi Ma, Lary Day, Russell Yuen, Abigail Pniowsky, Jadyn Malone
Screenplay: Eric Heisserer
Music Score by: Johan Johannsson
Cinematography: Bradford Young
Cinematography: Bradford Young
Edited by: Joe Walker
Running Time: 116 minutes
Language: English
Rated: M - themes and mild language
Running Time: 116 minutes
Language: English
Rated: M - themes and mild language
Amy Adams directed by Denis Villeneuve - it doesn't get much better than that.
Villeneuve is three for three at this point.
I loved "Prisoners" and "Enemy" and of course the recent "Sicario" was exceptional.
Adams I have been a fan of since "Catch Me If You Can" - a role that was supposed to ignite her career but didn't. She had to wait until "Junebug" for that inevitability to happen.
So with one of the finest actresses working today (and I think THE finest) directed by a director who has gone from strength to strength we should have a recipe for excellence.
And that is indeed what we get.
"Arrival" is hardly an original concept for a movie but its execution is.
Twelve alien ships park up at various spots around the world.
The monolithic black disc / ovals are somewhat reminiscent of the ones in "Independence Day" but any comparisons between the two films should end right there.
While Roland Emmerich's 1996 blockbuster is pure popcorn spectacle (and great as such) "Arrival" is a science fiction movie through and through.
If you imagine "Interstellar" with a dash of "Contact" and just a smidge of "The Day the Earth Stood Still" you will get an idea of the tone but still not much of a clue as to exactly what this film is doing.
Like "Interstellar" there are themes relating to parenthood but to say much more would be to spoil the surprise (and pleasure) in letting this film play out.
Adams' character Louise is a language expert but when we meet her in the opening scenes she is narrating the story of her child who we see as a baby, a toddler, a young girl and finally a teenager at which point she is struck down by an unnamed disease.
We see Louise going on with her life teaching languages until things are tipped upside down by the arrival of the alien ships.
Louise is recruited by an army Colonel (Forest Whitaker) to try to decipher the language used by the beings aboard the ship hovering over Montana.
She meets a physicist (Renner) and they form part of the team who will try to figure out what the visitors want.
Pressure arrives in the form of increasingly nervous foreign parties - particularly the Chinese who seem highly likely to launch strikes against the ships and drag Russia and others with them.
The focus of the action stays mainly with the attempts to figure out the alien language but the external pressure is felt very much adding quite some tension to the film.
The aliens intentions are left unknown for much of the movie so there is also the possibility that they may have malicious intent.
There is a lot of invention in the form that the aliens take but even more so in the language that they use.
Some will call this a slow movie and maybe even a boring one but I was captivated by the communication system that the aliens employed and by Louise's attempts to learn it.
The method by which the humans get aboard the ship is also very different and makes perfect sense.
There is an awful lot to spoil with this movie and in truth it is not an easy movie to recommend as a result.
I do recommend it - very strongly - specially if you are a science fiction fan but there isn't a lot to present to a person dubious about its appeal.
There are no whiz-bang space battles and the special effects serve purely as necessary aspects in the storytelling rather than adrenaline pumping moments of action.
What I will say is that this is yet more evidence that the Blade Runner sequel could not be in better hands than Villeneuve's.
He has total command of the tone, themes and structure.
His frequent music score collaborator Johan Johannsson's score is moody and minimalist for the most part with pounding moments when called for.
It is also somewhat reminiscent of the "Interstellar" score by Hans Zimmer.
Adams is utterly superb giving a performance of subtlety and depth - emotions bubbling just under the surface.
She is required to impart much with just an expression and as good as I find her normally this is absolutely one of her very best pieces of work.
A fantastic movie.
No comments:
Post a Comment