And so the aliens have landed, in the form of first contact offering 'ARRIVAL' which I saw earlier this week based on the 1998 short Sci-Fi story 'Story of Your Life' by Ted Chiang. But make no mistake - this is no 'Independence Day', no 'War of the Worlds', no 'District 9' or 'The Thing' but more akin to the thinking mans 'Contact', 'Interstellar', 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind', and 'The Day the Earth Stood Still'. The films already highly rated adaptation is Directed by Denis Villeneuve, was made for US$47M, has taken US$39M at the global Box Office so far, and Premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in early September where it won the Future Film Festival Digital Award, and was nominated for a Golden Lion.
Here, twelve vast and mysterious alien spaceships touch down in various seemingly random locations around the world. Termed 'Shells' by the Americans because of their elliptical shape they measure about 1500 meters tall and hover motionless about ten meters off the ground, not emitting any sound, any gas, any radiation and constructed of a solid black stone like material the like of which is unknown to us. One such Shell has touched down in Montana, and this is where the action plays out in a hastily set up Army camp close by to the alien craft.
Joining Banks is theoretical physicist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner) who now head up a team of other so called 'experts' endeavouring to communicate with the aliens and learn of their intentions. They report through to US Army Colonel Weber (Forest Whittaker). Weber is under pressure from Agent Halpern (Michael Stuhlbarg) who is more than gung-ho to let loose on the aliens with a can of Uncle Sam's whoop-ass, particularly when progress with communicating is painstakingly slow, and tensions are mounting at the other eleven locations around the world. Communicating with each nations leaders via a bank of live feed monitors, it soon becomes clear that each has a different agenda on what action to take, and all are learning different things about their respective Shells as time progresses, but are not prepared to share their discoveries.
Around the world there is rioting and looting in the streets and the social fabric of our planet is quickly falling into decay as it is realised that we are not alone in the universe, and according to the media and the doomsayers the end is nigh, and the aliens have come to attack and wipe out all known civilisation. In the meantime, the Chinese and the Russians join forces and are quickly preparing to mount a full scale attack on the Shells located in their parts of the world if they don't haul ass soon and get the hell outta Dodge!
Meanwhile Banks and Donnelly are inside the shell every eighteen hours as the days, weeks and months pass by, with little progress being made. The alien language is very complicated, but through perseverance and applying what they both know, some progress is made. The aliens scroll a message that translates to 'offer weapon', and this is also seen in the other eleven Shells around the world. The world leaders are fearful upon seeing 'weapon' that they are under likely attack and begin mounting an offensive campaign. Banks however, interprets 'weapon' as 'tool' - a device to aid and assist, and perhaps the aliens are attempting to trade something of value, and important.
Returning to the base camp which is now being evacuated for fear of alien attack, Banks has another vision of eighteen months hence, when all is good in the world, the aliens have departed and the global leaders are united in celebration marking a new era of sharing, caring and togetherness. Banks siddles up to General Shang (Tzi Ma) of China who originally wanted to nuke 'em out of existence, but he thanks her for changing his mind. When Banks asks him how, he says she called him on his private number, which he then proceeds to give her for the first time. Coming round from her vision, she steals a satellite phone and calls Shang on his private number, and relates to him in fluent Mandarin the very same words that his wife said to him on her death bed - he told her these words in the future and she repeated them to him in the present. At this Shang orders his military might to stand down, prompting all other nations to do likewise, and together all nations share in their learnings gleaned from their respective Shells. At this, all Shells dematerialise and vanish into thin air.
Following this course of events, Donnelly declares his love for Banks, and in a flash-forward vision we learn that he will be father of Banks' daughter, and that he will leave her over 'the choice' she made to have a child even though she knew beforehand that the childs life would be cut short by a rare disease. Banks' motives are that now knowing that time is not linear, that it is better to have a child even for a short time, than never have that child come into existence.
This is a clever, thought provoking film that shares an underlying message of the importance of communication, unity and acceptance. Highly praised also for its stunning visuals, gripping story and great performances, especially from Amy Adams who carries this film, 'Arrival' is the thinking mans Sci-Fil movie that has something to say in todays world and turns the tables on the generally hostile alien contact genre with emotion, passion and a grounded realism that does not rely on heavy CGI, big guns, explosions and rousing end of the world speeches. Well worth the price of your ticket, and you'll need to concentrate on the storyline every step of the way.
-Steve, at Odeon Online-