Movie Review: "Arrival"

"Arrival": C+.  Arrival is a movie that delivers a message, in fact a bold, thought-provoking message.  But director Dennis Villeneuve takes so excruciatingly long to deliver it that the payoff does not seem worth the wait.  There are too many scenes which repeat the "action" from previous scenes.  How many times do we have to watch the characters hunched over a computer, desperately seeking clues?  How many circular scribbles do Abbot and Costello, the seven-footed aliens who've landed their craft in the US, need to draw on the glass partition separating them from the Americans, only to be followed by the humans attempting replication?  Don't go to this movie hoping that the aliens will remind you of ET.  The seven-legged creatures, christened "heptapods" by the scientists, have no personality, nor are they cute or cuddly.  They remind me of elongated versions of the Pac Man ghost, Inky.

The world comes to a standstill when a dozen spaceships resembling thousand feet long footballs hover near the ground at various locations throughout the world, including Greenland, Sierra Leone, Siberia, China and Montana.  People are panic-stricken.  Are these spacemen friend or foe?  What is their mission and why did they choose those twelve particular spots to visit?  The locations seem to be randomly selected, although a little research reveals two commonalities: All twelve spots have low potential for lightening strikes, and all are places where Scottish singer Sheena Easton had a hit record in 1980.  That last factoid is the only inkling of humor throughout the two hour movie.

The nations housing these uninvited visitors are desperate to find answers.  Surely the various armies can't wait until catastrophe strikes at the hands of the aliens, yet by the same token a preemptive military assault might be apocalyptic.  At first the nations cooperate with each other, sharing data and putting their deep thinkers in constant communication.  The US military brass, led by Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker), immediately calls on language expert Dr. Louise Banks.  Weber won't take "no" for an answer because he acknowledges Banks' unmatched expertise at translations; she has worked for him before.  In fact, the colonel arrives without warning by landing a huge chopper in the doctor's back yard.  Ten minutes later, they fly off to Big Sky Country.

 

On board the helicopter Banks is teamed with physicist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner), another of Weber's recruits.  The first dialogue between Banks and Donnelly leads the viewer to believe this pair will bicker, or at least disagree, about how to communicate with the heptapods.  A turf battle seems likely.  That expectation never comes to fruition.  Instead, Banks and Donnelly relate to each other professionally, thus lessening the opportunity for witty debate and banter.  For much of the movie Renner's talents are wasted, as Donnelly's primary function appears to be observing Banks with admiration.  This is clearly Adams' movie.

 

The leaders of the various host countries lose patience, and interpret some signals given by the heptapods to be a prelude to battle.  The open communication among the countries starts to shut down.  China is ready to call its own shots without regard to the other nations.  Weber and the Washington brain trust correctly realize that all it would take is one country to start attacking their extraterrestrial visitors and all twelve spacecraft would likely launch a counter-attack.  This possibility puts even more pressure on Banks and Donnelly to solve the mystery.  What are Abbot and Costello trying to tell them?  Communication is essential; that's why Dr. Banks is there.

 

There are two sidebars to the main story arch.  One pertains to Banks' child who is introduced early and then only sporadically.  Although this girl is not directly involved with her mother's activities vis-a-vis the visitors from outer space, you are hereby advised to watch and listen carefully when the mother-daughter relationship is addressed on-screen.  Secondly, the concept of time is a running thread, especially once we get to the half-way point of the film.  The less written here regarding these two facets of the story, the better.  Just know they are key.