Let’s get one thing straight, Arrival isn’t your standard alien invasion film, instead of focusing on the mayhem and destruction you usually see, this takes a much more low key approach to first contact.
This is notIndependence Day: Resurgence.
As previously mentioned, Arrival, isn’t a typical Alien film and as such it doesn’t feature a typical protagonist. Gone is the muscle bound hero fighting off the alien invaders, instead is a character looking to understand the visitors and do anything to stop a deadly confrontation. In this instance, our heroine is Amy Adams’ cunning linguist Louise Banks, who spends the majority of the film trying to learn the visitors language and understand their intentions.
In this role, Adams once again shows why is she is one of the most consistent actresses working in Hollywood today, playing the character as both determined and overwhelmed by the task thrust upon her by the U.S. Government.
The film also features Captain America: Civil War actor, Jeremy Renner as Banks’ coworker, Ian Donnelly, a theoretical physicist. Whilst Renner puts in another solid performance as Donnelly his character seems to act more as a sounding board for Banks progress, with his own work going largely unmentioned. Also rounding out the cast is Forest Whitaker as Colonel Weber, who puts his faith in Banks and Donnelly’s work to find a solution to the crisis and Michael Stuhlbarg as C.I.A. Agent Halpern whose only concern is whether the visitors pose a threat.
The film itself doesn’t show a great deal of the actual invasion, with much of the story dealing with the reaction that the human race has to such an impossible experience. In regards to the extraterrestrials, much of what see in fact takes place in one single room during Doctor Banks’ attempts to create some way of communicating with the alien race.
Throughout the film we come to realize that much of threat comes not from the mysterious creature inside the ship, but the terrified members of humanity who don’t know how to deal with such a situation. The film also makes a point of commenting on how the world has become so separated, with countries showing little trust or faith in the rest of the world. Something which feels all to real when you look at what is happening in the world today.
As mentioned earlier the film does take a relatively subdued look at an alien invasion, but that doesn’t stop the look of the the ships and the creatures themselves from being an impressive, and somewhat terrifying sight. The crew working on the special effects have done a great job on creating the look of both the alien visitors and the ships they arrived in.
Overall, director Denis Villeneuve has created an intriguing alien invasion drama which is unlike most others, taking on a much more realistic approach. Those who are looking for something more akin to Independence Day or Battle: Los Angeles will likely disappointed when they the discover that the actions scenes are replaced with extended scenes in which Adams and Renner write up the first Alien dictionary.