I
went and saw Blade Runner: 2049 in
theaters a couple weeks back, and I’ve seen director Denis Villeneuve’s intense Sicario, strange metaphorical Enemy, and one of my personal favorites
in Prisoners; however, none of these
are what I decided to focus on. Although it would have easily been better to
see in theaters, I just now watched last year’s alien invasion thinker Arrival.
I
mention Villeneuve’s previous (and what he did right after Arrival which was Blade
Runner) works because there’s something about these foreign directors and
their almost technically perfect filmmaking style. I would honestly compare
Villeneuve’s visceral punching, yet subtle vision-driven storytelling to that
of Alejandro Inarritu (The Revenant, Babel, Birdman). If you want simply solid films built with tension and
sometimes delivering thought-provoking plots, Villeneuve is a good choice.
So
what is Arrival? 12 alien spacecraft
vessels with strange, black, oval-like shapes touch down (well, they hover above the ground) around the globe. And
one of my favorite things about the film is that it knows people don’t want 30
minutes of exposition explaining the backgrounds of the charcaters and why they’ve
been chosen; Amy Adams is a skilled linguist professor, and she’s headed toward
the spacecraft in under 20 minutes with an established background already
setup. She is taken there by Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker) and accompanied by
theoretical something physicist with toned muscles Jeremy Renner.
One
of the strongest aspects of this film—just like the visually stunning 2049—is the logical flow of events in
the film. It makes sense why Adams and Renner are needed for communication, and
the way they go about everything is just smart and practical. I’d prefer not
describing how they interact with the aliens—even if that comprises a large
bulk of the movie—but just know that the plot structure is much more
sophisticated than a typical Hollywood summer flick.
For
a film centering around alien contact, it is incredible to see how rooted in
humanity the story is. Much of the conflict arises from trust issues from
around the globe and especially China’s thinning belief that the aliens are
here for peaceful reasons. Their turn towards more aggressive tactics and other
countries following suit is where the pickup in pacing comes from. And it’s
also where the film deviates even more from the norm. If you’re watching this
film in a personalized setting like on your laptop, put some headphones in and
crank that volume up. There’s a big reason why this film won an Oscar in sound
editing; the effects have to be so precise when so much of the plot relies on a
linguist trying to figure out how to properly communicate with mysterious
aliens that are humorously named Abbott and Costello (Who’s on First reference)
by Renner. And instead of having a huge, Hans Zimmer score punctuating the
action, there’s a much more surreal feel from the lack of Johann Johannsson’s
score (who works with Villeneuve on practically everything). For example, Adams
needs to take a breath of fresh air from the stressful work environment, and as
she is outside in the beautiful Montana landscape and she reflects on past
exposition regarding her family, the touching flashback only has the sound of
wind blowing on the tall grass that Adams is sitting in. The minimalist
approach brings the audience in closer to this intimate scene, and we hang on
every frame.
So
this is like a masterpiece? Well, not exactly. Again, technically speaking, it’s
near perfect like how Inarritu is. But that doesn’t necessarily translate to
simple entertainment value on screen. These are wonderful kinds of films that
can be discussed for hours, but that’s not the point of this review. To keep it
relatively simple, Arrival is a good film that will keep you intrigued for its
duration. But you won’t really walk out after the credits and be like, “Wow,
that was great!” Actually, the effect it will have is probably closer to a
desire to go get a mocha, sit by a rainy window of a wooden table with
comfy, contemporary furniture at that hip coffeeshop that will have a name like
The West Side Coffeeshop or Hot Coffee with Cool Friends, and you’ll just want
to think about life. I will say with about 20 minutes left, the movie had me
worried about what strange, complicated direction it was going to take, but
then it fooled me and went somewhere else. It’s a clever, cool looking film
that is logical at every turn (unlike all teenagers in horror movies)—but I’m
not sure it’s enough to be classified as “one of the greats.”
And
if you’d like a review on any of his other films like Blade Runner: 2049 which I think is still in theaters, I’m always
open for suggestions. Just don’t tell me to watch The Human Centipede because, even if I hit rock bottom in life, I
don’t think I’ll ever have an urge to watch that film. Stay thirsty, my
friends, and keep on keeping on.
