THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
One of the most challenging questions in humanity is deciding what should be done when having the ability to see the future, see it through or change it to our liking. While I don’t have an answer for myself, it’s quite clear Arrival has a fair answer.
PLOT
Based on Ted Chiang’s ‘Story of Your Life’, the film follows linguist Louise Banks who has apparently lost her daughter from an incurable disease. Extraterrestrials have recently arrived in 12 shell shaped aircrafts around the world. She and theoretical physicist Ian Donnelly would be recruited by Colonel GT Weber to study one of the crafts in Montana and decode their language in order to understand their intentions on entering the planet. When boarding the said craft, the alien race would be dubbed ‘Heptapods’ due to having seven limbs. Their phrases would be written circular symbols created from their personal ink. Banks & Donnelly would prove to the aliens they mean no harm when not wearing required hazmat suits; Donnelly would also give them personal nicknames of ‘Abbott & Costello’, based on the iconic comedic duo. Months would go by studying the heptapods and Louise would decode one of their messages to be ‘offer weapon’. Due to the United States sharing the results with other nations, China mistakes the meaning to be ‘use weapon’, resulting in them to break off communications with them and other nations would promptly follow. Banks would give a defense that the aliens meant to say ‘tool’ while China’s interaction with their own interaction with their pod through mahjong makes them think they meant weapon. She and Donnelly would re-enter the Montana craft in hopes to get a clear answer from Abbott & Costello; Little would they know rogue soldiers planted explosives inside, causing the heptapods to save them by ejecting them from the vessel before detonation. The incident causes the said craft to go beyond reach and the US military would prepare evacuation in case of retaliation. In the midst of the evacuation and China declaring the heptapods within 24 hours if they don’t leave the planet, Donnelly deduces one of the symbols to mean ‘gift’ which means they want to cooperate. Banks would go inside the Montana craft one more time thanks to a provided transport pod to get the needed answer. With Abbott being injured from the explosion, Costello explains the weapon is their language as it will allow humans to alter their linear perception of time and allow them to experience to future. The heptapods are sharing their language to help the humans and in return, have their help in 3,000 years time. This means that every memory Banks has recounted of her daughter have been flash forwards instead of flashbacks. When returning to the base still being evacuated, she is able to confirm with Donnelly she was right of the aliens meaning to say ‘tool’. She would then take a satellite phone to reach China’s General Shang (Tzi Ma) in hopes to stop his attack. She and Donnelly would be pursued by Agent Halpern who mistakes her action to be treason. Thankfully, she contacts Shang in time and convinces him to not attack by reciting the dying words of his wife, a memory from her future she would use to her advantage. The final words were spoken in Mandarin “In a war there are no winners, only widows”. That alone stops Shang from attacking and other nations would follow suit. After a ceasefire, all alien crafts would depart. As the evacuation concludes, Donnelly confesses to Banks his love for her, meaning he will be the father of her daughter. The film would end with her moving forward with the relationship, despite knowing the tragedy that will come from it. THOUGHTS
It’s always hard to bring something new to a genre like science fiction because you gotta be reminded new is different. Director Denis Villeneuve and writer Eric Heisserer provide the definition of it because there is no way anyone had ever brought to life something like this. Jóhann Jóhannson provides an intense score that creates the accurate perspective of wondering what won’t happen instead of what will. In the 21st century, every fictional alien must be as realistic as possible and there was such an aura seeing the heptapods and their crafts. The buildup to seeing them is so captivating because you know it’s coming yet can’t believe how unique they look. Their look is no neutral because you’re not sure of their intentions are until the end. Add this with impressive sound effects to make them sound just as otherworldly you expect, it seals the deal in making them the most distinctive of the 2010s. Everything about this movie works in full circle because it tells two important messages that need to be loudly acknowledged: There will always be high power in language and communication to shape our worldview. And it gives the answer maybe we should let the future go on as is when you know the outcome because trying to make a change will lessen our humanity. It would feel pleasant to live without tragedy, but it’s those kind of moments in our lives that give us the growth and needed maturity to become better versions of ourselves before our time is up. This was a captivating set of lessons to learn thanks to Amy Adams’ best performance from the other films she starred in during 2016 (Batman v Superman and Nocturnal Animals). Louise is the superior performance of the three because you’re in awe of her being one who is coping with something that hasn’t happened yet and is still able to approach the task at hand in the most calm and objective manner compared to everyone around her because she knows someone has to in order to prevent any possible mistake. She takes action based on logic because fear is guaranteed to make things worse before it can get any better. It was an incredible twist for the revelation of her having flash forwards the whole time because it means she unknowingly saw her future. My guess on how it became possible before meeting Abbott & Costello come from how their language is inspired by logograms, a language that many linguists would study. And the use of logograms represents how the aliens think of time cyclically instead of within a straight line. While she wisely made good advantage of an unlikely to prevent Shang from making a mistake, her final decision before the credits roll speaks so much volumes. Since my first viewing, I’ve been wondering like many why would Louise go through having a child with Donnelly when she now knows what would come from it. To me, I think she is so willing because all the good memories seem to appear to outweigh the bad and they’re worth going through. And if this is true, I hope she still has happiness after the inevitable happens. If there is any other bright side of the chain of events that leads to a difficult future, she was able to share it with someone who cared about her. Jeremy Renner leaves a good impression as Donnelly because he’s just as grounded as her and knows patience is the key to achieving the answers everyone is seeking. Looking back, I think he fell for Banks so fast because he admires how she doesn’t change course to satisfy anyone. She doesn’t rush the mission and avoids violence whereas everyone else is willing to throw a punch with minimal thought. She falls for him in return not off of what she saw in her future but she respected him for having a similar mindset with what they had to do. The only tragedy of this relationship was how it was bound to go south the moment she chose to tell him she knew their daughter would die. And that is where they differ because he would rather would going through that pain than put up with it, a perspective that I respect. Despite the inevitable, it’s still nice to know they still shared good moments before building up to the bad. You also can’t go wrong with Forest Whitaker who really brought in the tension as Weber. He pulls this off for making the character very dense, just expecting an immediate answer rather than wait for more of what can be said. He is paranoid as everyone else would be in his shoes but had he been just a little more patient with Banks’ process, there would have not been a group of rogue soldiers to attack the craft. Who doesn’t get talked about enough is Micheal Stuhlbarg as Halpern. Throughout his screen time, he was so interesting because his mindset was similar to Weber where he’d only care of doing as told and didn’t put too much thought on what was unfolding. He knows how talented everyone else is, but only relies on logic which is where he’s just as flawed as Weber due to never thinking further than allowed. Had he allowed himself to be more open minded than he thought he was, he would never have to be against Banks’ actions during the climax. This film was such an incredible experience, but there are still things I question about to this day. For example, if Louise only had less than 10 students to come to her class, why would they still have their ringers on? I know there has to be an excuse for Louise to know what’s going on, but there should’ve been another way for it to play out like her mother calling her. It was quite the coincidence for Weber to visit her in her office, but I feel like a call would’ve been an appropriate heads-up no matter how urgent the situation is. It only gets more annoying of him to wait until reaching the aircraft to tell Banks the door opens every 18 hours. I mean he could’ve said this to her on the plane or at her office when they first met. And why isn’t there a Mandarin expert? You got dozens of on-site language experts/translators in one room and it’s ridiculous to not have one at all. Again, it’s just a weird way to give Banks more to do with the story. And why do the other personnel still wear hazmat suits once she and Ian stop wearing theirs? It’s one thing to be cautious, but they just come off like they don’t want to be part of the story from this decision alone. The worst part is how they don’t stop her from entering the ship when they just placed the bombs inside. It’s like they wanted her to die and that’s a dick move. Other than that, I enjoy the rest of the movie for what it does. In short, Arrival is 2016’s greatest sci film for having a strong exploration on important questions on our own humanity. If those kind of movies are your type, see this as soon as possible.
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