Arrival (Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker) – I noted that this sci-fi “first contact” film has an 8.4 (out of 10) rating on imdb so I will be the contrarian. Here’s the premise: 12 alien spacecraft have taken up residence across the world, their intentions unknown. Each country has a different response though the nations are communicating. In the U.S, Montana is the location. In response, the military chooses a linguistics expert, Dr. Louise Banks (Amy Adams) and a mathematician, Ian Donnelley (Jeremy Renner) to help them figure out “What is the purpose” of their visit.
The spacecraft opens every 18 hours allowing Louise, Ian, the soldier in charge (Forest Whitaker), and a small team to “talk” to the aliens. Louise figures out the way to communicate, teaching the aliens English while translating the visitors’ circular shaped ink-link emissions into language. Meanwhile, Ian tries to figure out the patterns in the messages. All the while, Louise, suffering from insomnia, is having visions about her daughter’s youth and young death from cancer. It seems like these visions are helping Louise solve the extra-terrestrial puzzle.
I’ll stop there so as not to reveal any more about the plot. What I will tell you is that the special effects that, according to the end credits, must have taken more than 100 people to create, are lame. The spacecraft look like fat cigars turned vertically. They’re black, don’t sparkle, don’t speed through the skies, and don’t seem to do anything. When we get inside the craft, it is unspectacular except for the alien presence behind a “barrier” that looks like an aquarium window. The aliens look like a seven-finger hand with the finger side down. There are two of them, nicknamed Abbott and Costello by Amy and Ian (will anyone under 50 know who the comedy team is let alone “Who’s on first?”).
The story is certainly interesting, full of geo-politics as the Chinese ultimately declare war on the aliens based on a message that mentions a “weapon.” And our lead actors are certainly engaging. Who doesn’t like Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner though their lack of chemistry becomes part of the plot since they are both single nerds?
So before you head to Arrival, just know that you won’t be wowed by the special effects. This is no Close Encounters, Star Wars, Star Trek or even Harry Potter. Heck, it’s not even as good as Star Trek the TV show. But it will keep you engaged, which I suppose is worth two hours of your time.