Arrival review

I am really bad at releasing reviews on time.

Arrival is a science fiction drama about a linguistics professor(Amy Adams) asked to make contact with aliens in pods that have arrived on Earth.

I have told you all you need to know about Arrival before you see it. It is one of my favourite films I have seen this year, and I would highly recommend that you see it if you haven't already. This is the third film of Denis Villeneuve's that I have seen; it is his best in my opinion. Prisoners and Sicario are both very well made but both are very dark and neither have much hope. This is where Arrival is different. There is a sense of wonder felt at several times throughout the film and the outlook on humanity isn't as dark and depressing as several characters in Prisoners and Sicario. There are a few moments of humour that are placed well without standing out, but help keep the film from going into bleak territory.

Amy Adams gives a brilliant performance in the lead role and I think has a great chance of being a frontrunner when it comes to awards. Jeremy Renner and Forest Whitaker both do well in the smaller roles they are given as a theoretical physicist and a military colonel. Villeneuve once again partners with Jóhann Jóhannsson for the third time to produce a magnificent score that works well in the film. Not returning is cinematographer Roger Deakins, and is replaced by Bradford Young who excellently captures the great majesty of the arrival of the extra-terrestrials.

I've told you enough, just remember that aliens≠action.

In short: Arrival is fantastic, it is what every science fiction film should strive to be like.