There are a couple of things I’d like to hone on, but first, Arrival is about extraterrestrial visitors in twelve places across the globe. They come in black “shells”.

On the ground level, the U.S. military camp on a large field. They are investigating one of the shells with the help of scientists. They can only go into the pod-like structure at certain times the pod opens. Their mission is to communicate with the aliens, led by scientist Ian (Jeremy Renner) with linguist Louise (Amy Adams).

Louise is recruited by the U.S. military to interpret the alien signals and communications. She is ultimately there to discover their intentions.

Meanwhile, the world panics. Russia, Sudan and China fear invasion and will strike back if necessary.

The results of the mission to the aliens are largely drawn-out. This is parallel with Louise’s flashbacks.

But these flashbacks may be Louise having a breakdown, stress fatigue, or she is genuinely having memories from her past, or it’s something else.

The emergence of the aliens and the flashbacks make sense at the end.

What it’s like

Arrival has a sense of currency and immediacy and is entirely believable. The movie is edge of your seat but draws out proceedings at a deliberate and finely tuned pace. You don’t know what is going to happen next, which also resonates in terms of theme. The ‘twist’ in the final act is a surprise.

It’s handsomely produced. Original, unpredictable and unconventional, perhaps superseding Close Encounters of the Third Kind which covered similar subject matter. There is also a play on the nature of time as linear narrative and logic collides with memory and knowing the future.

The un-mending of a broken relationship tends to be a down point despite the movie coming down on a more affirmative note. However, this broken relationship is one of Louise’s regrets.

Two amazing points

One of the two things I want to hone onto comes at the beginning. The arrival of the extraterrestrials changes Louise’s life. We have all the urgency of spirituality thrown into one moment when life becomes more than what one normally experiences. Life can be like that.

The other moment is an extraordinary discovery. What if you know what will happen, but are stuck in the present?