Arrival (2016 Film) Spoiler Free and Spoiler Review
Non-Spoiler Portion
This film is close to perfect. I'm not going to say it is perfect, because there are a few minor flaws here and there, but those are very minor tweaks and adjustments that could've been fixed. When I saw the trailer, I said to myself, "You have my interest, but I think I'll wait till this film is available to rent and then I'll see it." But then it started getting very positive reviews, which doesn't always convince me, but when my parents saw this film by themselves and came home saying that it was spectacular, it became a must see." I saw it on a Saturday afternoon and my mind was BLOWN! It was so amazing. It was also so thought provoking. I did not anticipate that. I enjoy films that make me think. They took science and language and delved deep into it and really grounded it so that it was realistic. Amy Adams plays such a great character. I'm not a huge fan of her work, but this is the best role I've seen her do. Some people didn't like Jeremy Renner's character, but I thought he was just as good as Amy Adams's character. The two delivered really applaudable performances. Forest Whitaker is here. He didn't have a lot to do here, which is why I won't be discussing his character in the spoiler portion, but from what he had, he was fine. This is, at its core, the Amy Adams's show and she has such a great amount of depth and emotion to her character. This film is getting a lot of Oscar buzz. We're going to talk about that later, but I have a lot of awards that this film should be nominated for. All in all, if you liked Interstellar and The Martian, then you're going to like this film just the same. Some people had a lot of bad things to say about those two films, but I love those two films as I do with this film. So go see Arrival. You'll have a great time.
Alright. Here's your SPOILER WARNING. Here's the part that people, who have not seen this film, bow out. I strongly recommend that you do so. This section is for people that have seen this film. But you can do what you want to do, let's get started.
The BIG TWIST/Time Travel
So the big twist that I thought was really interesting was that the aliens not only saw time, but didn't see time laterally and they could see all time at once. They also introduced that once you begun to understand their language, you too could see glimpses of time in a non-lateral way. Naturally, because she was the linguist, Louise starts having visions of the future. I'm seeing that a lot of people didn't understand the films climax. In it, Louise contacts the Chinese general so that she can tell him the last words of his dying wife, which ends up saving the day. Their problem was that the film didn't show how she knew the number and that information in the first place so that she could do something like that. I had that same problem initially, but then I understood. With this film, the filmmakers present time like a string of pearls being mixed up and getting tangled so that different bits of the string connect to all sorts of places. There's no beginning, middle, or end. It's a paradox. So having to find out where she knew that information the first time doesn't matter. In the film, it's shown that if someone thought or dreamt in an alien language as Amy Adams's character does, your brain could be re-wired and you could perceive time differently. The crucial part was that it depended on what language you were speaking I found that really interesting. Usually, I find time travel really difficult to understand. There are some films that do it somewhat simplistically, but for films like this, they really go deep and really try to explain time in a really complex way. This is a time travel film as much as it is an alien encounter film. It's very layered and complex. It's also really fun to see if these things are possible and could become a reality in the future.
Previously, I stated that I'm not a huge fan of Amy Adams. It's not that I have something against the actress, but there was just nothing about her roles where I could say that it was her best performance. Until now. I was stunned with her performance. It really caught me off guard. Her character was layered. She had a personality. There was no point where her performance was poor. I appreciated the fact that they displayed for us, the audience, he vast knowledge of language. It didn't sound at all like she was just reading lines of a script. She actually knew her stuff. This film made language pretty fascinating for me. Just like The Martian made botany and biolagy interesting, this film did the same for language and its prominent importance to everyone. It was a great way to be approaching a new species. In this case, aliens. The more I think about it, the more that I begin to believe that it seems so obvious to approach aliens in a peaceful matter. I thought her character was well thought out and her introduction wasn't rushed. We got to know more about her character over the course of the film. One of her characteristics is that she was a daredevil. That was a tremendous leap of faith to take of her hazmat suit without her fearing about what the consequences would be. Don't do that in the future kids. Despite her brave and faithful gambles, her character was spectacular.
Jeremy Renner Ian DonnellyI don't know why everyone is hating on Jeremy Renner's character. In my own opinion, I thought his character was just as good as Amy Adams's character. She was the linguist and he was the scientist. They were a team. They shared their knowledge with each other to understand the language of these visitors. I enjoyed seeing them work together and understanding one another's expertise. What I'm hearing is that some critics said that for a scientist, he understood very little on the subject, but I thought he lived up to his notable profession. I enjoyed the scene where, through narration, explained the aliens knowledge and their quick study of them. It was a great way for the audience to know more about the aliens and seeing how they figured it out. The big thing that really surprised me was that in the big twist, it was revealed that he was Louise's future husband. I did not see that coming. At first, I found it questionable that Louise wouldn't tell Ian about their future relationship/divorce, not to mention their child that would later die, but as I thought about it, it made sense. As it was shown in the beginning of the film, her husband left her because she told him the unfortunate death of their kid, so I was okay with it, but I'm curious to see what that future would be. There were so many possibilities that I think this could get a sequel maybe? But as for Jeremy Renner, I really enjoyed his character. He was likable and funny at points. As I said, this is Amy Adams's movie, but with the scenes that he had, he was at his best in terms of acting.
Aliens
It's so refreshing to see an alien encounter film that isn't a shoot to kill deathmatch between them and humanity. With this film, the filmmakers took an obvious choice about aliens arriving on Earth and the Earth doesn't try to blow them up to kingdom come. I could name several films where they went that route. But this one was very realistic. If aliens actually landed on Earth, our first step would be to understand their language and try to communicate without jumping to guns. You see what I did there? I was happy to find that the aliens came to make Earth get along with each other and end the secrecy and contention between the different countries. I was intrigued by the look of the aliens. It was a break from all the normal look of aliens and the look that they came up with was pretty peculiar, but in a positive way. I laughed out loud when Ian named the two aliens that were in the ship Abbott and Costello. That was so hilarious. They were called heptapods, which makes sense because of the seven legs. I thought it was kinda ridiculous that they said the aliens didn't understand math. You don't build ships like that without knowing math. It was very disappointing to see the other military people going out and trying to kill the aliens with the bomb that almost killed Louise and Ian, the tanks, and the many jets that were ready to blow them up. If I was working there, I'd be saying "The linguist and the scientist are doing just fine. Why do you need to do all this?" Luckily, that was toward the end of the film. Overall, I thought the aliens looked really cool and I liked that they were peaceful, which is a new thing that hasn't been done before. I really enjoyed that.
Oscar Wishlist
Here's one of the parts that I've been wanting to talk about. After seeing the film, I compiled a list of awards that this film should be nominated for at the Oscars and possibly win for. I thought with this film getting so much buzz for being nominated for multiple awards, I thought I'd share the nominations I'd like this film to get. First things first, we all know that this is the most likeliest one at of all of them. Amy Adams deserves the nomination and win for Best Actress. I thought her performance was, as I said, the best I've ever seen her do. I thought that she displayed what her character was and what will likely help her get the award is that she hasn't won an Oscar yet. She's been nominated, but never won. If Sandra Bullock can win the Oscar for her role in Gravity, which was just an okay performance, I don't see why the same can't be said for Amy Adams. She already has a nomination for the Golden Globes and word has it that the Golden Globes predict who and what will be nominated at the Oscars. The next award that I think would work for this film would be Best Director. As with the composer, I've never heard of Denis Villeneuve before, but I thought what he did with this film and going for a real intellectual route and making the audiences put the pieces of this puzzle together was a clever thing to do. It's not easy to create a mystery like that so I think his effort should be recognized. I also believe that Jeremy Renner should get a nomination for either Best Actor or Supporting Actor. I can't decide if his role is a supporting one or a main one. I thought that his performance was an Oscar worthy one. He hasn't won yet, but I think now would be a great time to do so. Best Original Score is the next award I think it should be nominated for. Maybe win, we'll have to see what else is nominated, but I think it should be nominated at the very least. I can't decide if this film should get any of the effects, design, and costume awards. This isn't really an effects heavy film. It's very low key. Nothing about the effects gives you a particular wow factor, but in a positive way. This is the final one. Best Picture. I'm currently putting together my top ten list for the best films of 2016 and from what I can tell you, Arrival is high up. I think the probability of that happening is very low but I hope so and all I can do is hope.
Conclusion
So that's my review for Arrival. What did you think of the film if you've seen it? Do you agree with my thoughts about the film, or do you have a different opinion? Write those thoughts in the comment section below as well as what you'd like to see me do on my blog in the future. Thanks for reading, I'm the film fanatic, bye-bye.
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