Grade: B+
Director Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners, Sicario) has crafted a fascinating and absorbing sci-fi drama with Arrival, a very worthy Best Picture nominee. Twelve mysterious spacecrafts appear, and “park” in various places throughout the world, and a linguistics professor is snatched up and recruited to help translate the language of the aliens. The spacecrafts – we assume all look the same – are shaped like a giant football that’s been cut in half the long way, and their resting position is upright, hovering over the ground a minimum of 20 feet. The always reliable Amy Adams stars as the professor, and carries the movie superbly. Why doesn’t she have an Oscar yet? Forest Whitaker and Jeremy Renner make solid impressions as well. Arrival started off a bit slow, then gradually got more interesting, all while staying refreshingly simple. In the climax, things became a muddied mess, and too busy for my taste. It disappointed me, and I was prepared to jump on here and say it was mostly promising, but fell apart near the conclusion, and less would have been more, but then a twist came along that I was absolutely blindsided by, and made me replay everything in my head, while helping to flesh out the confusion that had just come before. Not since The Sixth Sense in the fall of 1999 have I been so affected by a surprise ending.
Arrival is rich with potential conversation-starters with friends, and is one that you will muddle around in your head for a while. If you think the test tubes have shattered and the train has derailed, just keep watching.
Grade: B+
Film Reviews by Mark 
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