Friday, November 11, 2016

Arrival Movie Review

Amy Adams stars in Arrival

Some Assembly Required

Rotten Tomatoes Plot: When mysterious spacecraft touch down across the globe, an elite team, led by expert linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams) are brought together to investigate. As mankind teeters on the verge of global war, Banks and the team race against time for answers - and to find them, she will take a chance that could threaten her life, and quite possibly humanity. Directed by Denis Villeneuve.


Arrival strives to be a thinking man's Independence Day (can you imagine?) but closer resembles the likes of Close Encounters of the Third Kind and 1997's Contact. Trouble is, Jodie Foster could have solved this mystery in 30 minutes (or less.) Instead, we're stuck with Adams & partner-in-crime Jeremy Renner deciphering/trading boring dreams, one-word answers and squid ink symbols with a pair of hard-to-see octopi named Abbott & Costello. Not exactly Star Wars, is it? It's lovely to look at (kudos to Villeneuve and cinematographer Bradford Young) and smart (in small doses) but light on action and common sense.

Grade: B-