I’ve seen the television commercials for ARRIVAL…
Complete with quickly edited hints of an alien invasion and the world in a state of panic.
The end of the world as we know it?
I was ready for another CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND. Or SIGNS. Or WAR OF THE WORLDS.
That was before last week’s screening.
What I got instead was a CONTACT-like mind bender.
Not much blowing up or aliens trying to do us in. Definitely not your typical, popcorn invasion thriller.
Nope.
ARRIVAL is a complex and compelling approach to the old “Them-Against-Us” concept.
It stars Amy Adams as a linguistics professor who had to deal with the loss of her daughter.
And when a dozen strangely shaped alien spacecraft suddenly dock in locations around the globe, Army colonel Forest Whitaker seeks her out to help decipher any messages these strangers may want us to consume.
The nearest space vehicle has touched down in Montana…
Imagine that.
That’s where Adams along with physicist Jeremy Renner try to decipher the ins and outs of this rather peaceful invasion.
What they find inside the spaceship and how they communicate with its inhabitants is most unusual to say the least—not to mention thought-provoking.
Critics will love it and will be gushing in rave reviews.
Others though will be scratching their heads wondering what it’s all about.
And what of Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner? Do they have a past—or is it the future?
Welcome to a transcendent time into another dimension.
The bottom line:
ARRIVAL is a smart, world-wide alien crisis thriller.
Whether it’s too far-fetched and slow moving for mainstream ticket buyers remains to be seen.
If our screening audience was any indication I would predict a lukewarm reception.
ARRIVAL opens wide to a grade of: B.
