L'arrivée

As a kid, my dad used to tell me stories at night just like any other dads out there. I grew up, got busy with life but those priceless timeless beautiful storytelling moments that I once shared, that amazed me in wonder, curiosity, imagination and desire to know more..

I know if I think hard enough I might remember some of them, but that's not the point. The point is all those stories had characters and people and objects and places and things that I could either imagine or something that I could picture and understand and visualize in my young mind. If not for those imaginable characters and people, I would have never understood those stories, the true meaning of the story, the actual story behind the story that my dad probably wanted me to understand.

Arrival, for me is such a story. Aliens are just fun characters that help me understand the story so I can actually see beyond it and understand the untold story. You see, the way I understand it is that the director had to dumb it down for us and wrap this movie in a sci-fi genre and add aliens so you could relate it to something you are familiar with and hoped, really hoped that we try to understand the true purpose, the message behind all this. It simply couldn't have been portrayed better than this!

This movie teaches you a lot of things, if you are ready to learn. About 'time' and how much we are bound by it, about life and death, about loving unconditionally, about believing in yourself that everything happens for a reason, and so much more..

This is a very, very well made film, which is thought provoking, measured, engaging, and thoroughly well made.

There is nothing brash, or heavy handed about it, the story is superbly told, with well grounded characters. The story is of course sci fi, and hugely creative, but it's never silly, it is incredibly intelligent.

Awesome special effects, I loved the design of the alien race, and their language, quite incredible.

A story of hope, which I loved. 9/10

I will help you choose if you want to watch this one or not. It's easy. If you like, for example Sixth Sense, you will love this one. If you prefer Independence Day, you will hate it.

I think it's a masterpiece. Period. I'm actually a bit shocked it's not closer to 9 and a top 20 all time movie. The script is so intelligent that it feels that you have watched 4 different movies in the end. It's a thrill ride for drama-, thriller-, action- and science fiction fans in one package.

I had to compose myself for 20 minutes before leaving the theatre and it took me and my wife about 3 hours and 3 glasses of wine to talk about it afterwards.

Arrival is a sci-fi masterpiece. The acting is tonally perfect. The script is very well written and manages to make the complicated sci-fi lingo seem plausible. Denis Villeneuve directs this film with a gripping realism. The score is haunting and otherworldly at the same time, perfect for the subject matter. The story utilizes the concept of time brilliantly, almost like it's another character.

This is a sci-fi drama. It's not an action film. It's an intimate study that shy's away from big theatrics, instead opting for a philosophical discussion that challenges the viewer. The twist is beautiful and heartbreaking. I love that this film makes you think, it's what great sci-fi is suppose to do.

Watch this.

In the opening scenes we see protagonist Louise Banks raising and ultimately losing a daughter. We then see her lecturing in linguistics in a university; her class seems poorly attended but it soon emerges that there is a good reason for that... news is breaking of the arrival of twelve alien space ships. They are hovering at various points around the world just above the Earth's surface. Louise is approached by Colonel G.T. Weber of the US Military to help them try to communicate with the craft above Montana. Here she is teamed up with scientist Ian Donnelly. Upon entering the ship they meet two seven limbed aliens, dubbed 'heptopods'. It immediately becomes clear that their method of communication is unlike any human language. Gradually a basic vocabulary is developed; then a potentially worrying message is received... it may be an offer, or a threat or just a misunderstanding. Some countries take it as a threat and prepare to attack the crafts above their countries. If peace is to be maintained Louise and Ian will have to decipher the aliens' final message.

If you are hoping for the sort of sci-fi that delivers lots of fasts moving action and sexy, almost human, aliens then you are in for a disappointment. If however you want an intelligent, ideas led story then you should watch this. Most science fiction conveniently avoids the problems of communication with ideas such as 'universal translators', 'translator microbes' of a fish you stick in your ear but this film is all about establishing communications. As such it moves at a fairly slow pace with much of the action set in drab rooms... this doesn't mean it was boring though; I was thoroughly engrossed and the twists, which I won't spoil, surprised me without being too convenient or irritating. Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner impress as Louise and Ian and Forest Whitaker is solid in the role of Col. Weber. The rest of the cast is pretty good too. I feared that the ending might not live up to what went before but thankfully it did. Overall a great film that fans of more cerebral sci-fi need to watch... that's not meant as an insult to action packed space operas like 'Star Wars' or the high camp of 'Flash Gordon'; I love those as well!