Rent Arrival (2016)
3.7 of 5 from 1462 ratings
1h 51min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- When mysterious spacecraft touch down across the globe, an elite team - led by expert linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams) - are brought together to investigate. As nations struggle to coordinate a response, mankind teeters on the verge of global war, leaving Banks and the team in a race against time for answers - and to find them, she will take a chance that could threaten her life, and quite possibly humanity's very existence.
- Actors:
- Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker, Michael Stuhlbarg, Mark O'Brien, Tzi Ma, Abigail Pniowsky, Julia Scarlett Dan, Jadyn Malone, Frank Schorpion, Lucas Chartier-Dessert, Christian Jadah, Lucy Van Oldenbarneveld, Andrew Shaver, Pat Kiely, Sonia Vigneault, Mark Camacho, Sabrina Reeves, Julian Casey, Tony Robinow
- Directors:
- Denis Villeneuve
- Producers:
- Dan Levine, Shawn Levy, David Linde, Aaron Ryder
- Writers:
- Eric Heisserer, Ted Chiang
- Others:
- Shawn Levy, Joe Walker, Aaron Ryder, Dan Levine, Jóhann Jóhannsson, David Linde, Bradford Young, Patrice Vermette, Louis Morin, Claude La Haye, Bernard Gariépy Strobl, Sylvain Bellemare, Paul Hotte
- Aka:
- Story of Your Life
- Studio:
- E1 Entertainment
- Genres:
- Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Thrillers
- Collections:
- 2017, CinemaParadiso.co.uk Through Time, Getting to Know..., Getting to Know: Amy Adams, Top Films
- Awards:
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 20/03/2017
- Run Time:
- 116 minutes
- Languages:
- English Audio Description, English DTS 2.0, English DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1
- Subtitles:
- English Hard of Hearing
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 2.40:1
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- Xenolinguistics: Understanding Arrival
- Acoustic Signatures: The Sound Design
- Nonlinear Thinking: The Editorial Process
- Principles of Time, Memory and Language
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 19/11/2018
- Run Time:
- 116 minutes
- Languages:
- English Audio Description, English DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1
- Subtitles:
- English Hard of Hearing
- DVD Regions:
- Region 0 (All)
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 2.40:1
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- (0) All
More like Arrival
Found in these customers lists
Reviews (18) of Arrival
Me Klaatu, You Jane! - Arrival review by Count Otto Black
Most critics have praised this film to the skies for its subtle, thoughtful approach to the subject of aliens landing on Earth. Personally I think they may have overrated it simply because it's so rare for a serious film about extraterrestrial visitors to portray them as anything other than terrifying monsters, in the same way that some people thought "Batman Begins" was the greatest movie ever made because it depicted the activities of a superhero almost plausibly.
The best thing about "Arrival" is that its "heptapods" are genuinely alien. Their motives aren't just unknown but unknowable, and the entire point of the film is that something as basic as asking them why they're here is an almost impossibly difficult problem, but it has to be solved quickly because the entire planet is getting increasingly nervous. And it does indeed make a nice change to have completely passive aliens sitting around doing nothing, while it's the humans who provide the ticking clock of dramatic tension by worrying about them to the point where they're thinking of launching nukes from sheer xenophobia.
The worst thing about it is its third act. For most of its running time, "Arrival" is superb. But its final half-hour unravels in very odd ways, as if they were having trouble thinking of an ending. After numerous scenes in which the difficulty of communicating with these beings has been explained in very logical ways time and time again, suddenly they've got every amazing superpower required by the script, and they literally know everything except a few very specific things that would ruin the plot, such as how to communicate in even the most basic fashion with humans. It's almost like that trope whereby Doctor Who knows everything about the past and future of every planet in the Universe so long as the information is trivial and useless, but is strangely ignorant about the planet he's on right now where rubber monsters are trying to kill him.
I found myself thinking: "Oh come on, these aliens can't be that clever and that stupid at the same time!", and my willing suspension of disbelief went up in smoke. Other details began to bother me too. The government of a major world power, having failed to get through to the heptapods in human language, tries using a ludicrous method of communication absolutely guaranteed to result in misunderstanding just because at this point the plot needs ET to say something that sounds like a threat. And there's a very odd surprise revelation that has nothing whatsoever to do with the aliens, and requires two major characters not to mention the elephant in the room for almost the entire movie just to throw a totally pointless plot-twist at us very late on.
The other thing that has to be said is that if the Razzies were real awards as opposed to a talentless clique's boring ego trip, this film would get one for its cinematography. The entire movie is weirdly murky, including scenes taking place outdoors in broad daylight, and at times it looks so bad that if it was old and obscure, I would have assumed they couldn't find a better print. The aliens and their environment are minimalist to the point of being dull, and the Surrealist hovering rock spaceship is kept offscreen in an extraordinarily clumsy way for as long as possible as if it's going to be a huge surprise, despite being on the poster, and then presented to us in a very matter-of-fact fashion that makes it look strangely undramatic. I've never seen a major movie in which the director was less aware of the visual elements. And that does kind of matter when you're making a film.
Overall it's a bit of a muddle that's two-thirds great and one-third woefully contrived. And it really does look amateurishly terrible in places. I'd say it's overrated in a very unfortunate way, because it's nearly superb, but makes some inexcusably clumsy mistakes.
11 out of 16 members found this review helpful.
Very unpredictable - Arrival review by PT
Amy Adams plays Louise a linguistic expert drafted in by the army to try to understand what the aliens have landed here for. The pods of the aliens are all over the world. This leads to different interpretations of their intentions all over the world. So you've got paranoia of the aliens and paranoia of the different countries regarding each others moves.
Adams has baggage, haunted by the loss of her child, she obviously suffers intense memories of her daughter regularly. Aided in her quest by a caring scientist Ian (Renner}, who is concerned for her and attracted to Louise, the pair set about learning the alien language as quickly as possible.
Nothing spectacular in the special effects department, which strangely made it more real for me. Great emotional performance by Adams who steals the show here.
The ending really threw me and moved me to tears. I did not see it coming at all. A clever, emotional and terrific film.
4 out of 5 members found this review helpful.
Mature film - excellent! - Arrival review by AP
A pleasant change to the feel of most films. An engaging mood and feel to it.
3 out of 3 members found this review helpful.
Critic review
Arrival (aka Story of Your Life) review by Mark McPherson - Cinema Paradiso
When the aliens come, what language will they speak? Arrival weaves a smart sci-fi tale around such a subject, echoing tones from the best episodes of The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits. These are not the aliens that want to eat our flesh or blow up our planet. This is not the scenario where courageous human soldiers fire guns wildly at laser-firing spaceships. It’s more unique and engrossing to learn what an alien language might be rather than what color of laser their doomsday machine can fire.
Twelve spaceships, appearing as thin black rocks, loom over the Earth and humanity naturally loses its mind. Riots begin, the military is mobilized and class is pretty much cancelled. Master linguist Louise, a will-over-nerves Amy Adams, is employed by the military to translate what the aliens are communicating from one of the landings in Montana. She’s facing strict orders of protocol by a commanding officer, played with authority by Forest Whitaker, but finds a more cooperative ally with a chipper mathematician played by Jeremy Renner.
But her biggest obstacle is that of translating the alien’s language, presented with the most perplexing levels of communication. Every few hours, the aliens open their vertical doors to a room of shifting gravity where the squid-like creatures address human beings behind glass. Their only means of communicating is from using a floating ink to form circles. Each circle carries different meanings from slight alterations in their formation. Adams’ learning of the language occupies the majority of the picture and it’s a satisfying slow burn of smart science fiction.
It feels odd to recommend Arrival as one of my favorite movies of the year as a science fiction picture in that it does not rely on action. There’s no great plot of the aliens to consume our flesh or watch our cities burn. There’s no grand finale where fighters are scrambled, guns are fired and alien ships explode into flames. Even the singular explosion in the movie feels very understated, presented more as a suspenseful twist in the plot than a pointless detour for action.
Without the reliance on cheap gimmicks, Arrival truly shines for both its script and acting. Amy Adams delivers perhaps one of her best performances in years with a role built for both intelligence and drama. Renner performs admirably as the comic relief, but subtle enough that he’s not an annoying voice in an otherwise focused story. Even Whitaker felt to be a fully realized character, weary of alien visitors, but not gung-ho enough to pull the trigger prematurely.
The story also feels fully utilized as every aspect of these visiting aliens is explored. Though most of the movie takes place at the alien ship in Montana, news reports display the global reaction of riots in the streets and mobilization of military forces. Other nations begin translating the alien language as well which leads to misinterpretations and mistrust between other countries. An online activist spreads propaganda that inspires others to make reactionary moves that could endanger humanity. All of these plot developments play more as contributing story elements rather than crowding arcs, only popping up for as long enough as they’re interesting.
Past all of its brilliantly used special effects and precision writing, Arrival is ultimately an uplifting film about humanity and communication. By the time the movie reveals its shocking third-act twist, there’s enough soul invested into this tale to be easily wooed by its grand message. It’s a somber celebration of life’s struggle, urging humanity to embrace one another for whatever obstacle the future may present. Heavy themes, but not too heavy for the likes of director Denis Villeneuve who can convey such a picture with more intelligent heart than sentimental mush. It’s a picture that’s sure to go down as a sci-fi classic and deservedly so in an era where alien pictures are anything but experimental.