Review of Arrival (2016) by Kyle M — 26 Mar 2017

In my review for last year's "The Martian", I'd mentioned that there's been a sci-fi trend of annually-attempted successful narratives that gone out of this world in one's journey. The line "out of this world" states the limitless boundary of the sci-fi genre with wondrous, yet fictitious predictions what could be possible, then it gets tested by scientific accuracy to estimate the so-called length. Although, that applies to sci-fi flicks that aren't ridiculously improbable by flawed execution - referring to the "Independence Day" overblown sequel as an example. As we were in the final quarter of the movie year that's known as the awards season - and time of the main contenders, the sci-fi entry "Arrival" became the representative contender for that genre.

"Arrival" went for another routine of humanity being tested by the unknown as multiple spacecraft mysteriously appeared around the world, and the only action being taken is militaries sending in elite teams to investigate and try to communicate in their respective locations. Leading the US elite team is expert linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams) as she interprets and understand the mysterious visitors' nature, while the rest of the world is under fearful impression that would lead to a global war. To prevent further miscommunication and misunderstanding, Louise and some of her team is on a race against time to get answers, even if it means risking her life and possibly mankind as well.

When the movie ended, the one word that kept repeating in my head is "something". The movie was quite something by its aestheticizing atmosphere from Adams' performance to the conceptual approach towards the mystery with couple conventions and the twist through diegetic clarification. Speaking of the twist, it's a fresh experience when reversing how it was presented to the actuality of those scenes, even though it was an apparent main idea that may need another look at to see how whole the idea is. The climatic revelation is a different spin to the one in "Interstellar", within the similar encounter seen in "Independence Day" with a more gentle, yet cautious approach, while the cinematography seem to have a [somewhat] similar vibe to the exhaustive "2001: A Space Odyssey.".

Complimenting on the atmosphere that's immersive when experiencing it in the theater, it's actually the definitive soul of the film rather than the human performances that supports the idea, or the communicative ideology. The main element of the atmosphere is the composed score by Jóhann Jóhannsson, who created a chilling, echoing vibe that dimensionally emphasizes, and resonating from, the presence of the mysterious encounter. It's all part of being overall thrilling next to the topically unfortunate timing of how politics, both domestic and international, decided on drastically threatening measures based on miscommunication and misunderstanding, and we're resonating Banks' stress when racing against time. To sum it up, it's an emotionally engaging experience from thrilling to, in some cases, stressful towards a payoff of a conclusion.

Prior to the experience, nearly a month and a half after its release, Amy Adams' performance is genuinely terrific between the acting level in an artistic film and a sci-fi film, which is what this film is a combination of based on the inspired style at a new twist and added depth.

"Arrival" is the latest sci-fi entertainment that's worth seeing in the theaters to experience its immersion (like "Sully" a few months prior) and smart storytelling through an aesthetic atmosphere, with the human aspect being led by Amy Adams' performance. It's genuinely is one of the best films of the genre, and of the year generally, despite the minimal boost of interest before the reversing flip. (A-).