When the aliens start to bring up the word "weapon" repeatedly, the governments of the world - especially China and Russia - begin to get trigger-happy. ![]() The more she comes to understand the aliens' language, the more she adheres to the Sapir-Whorf theory that states the structure of a language either determines or greatly influences the modes of behavior and even thought. Before long, though, those moments where her mind wanders from the present to her time with Hannah start to take on cryptic meanings. At the same time, Louise is plagued by nightmares and visions in her mind's eye of a daughter she lost at a young age to cancer. But communication does start to happen slowly. Slowly, she and Ian start to match their drawings with English words. The military under the command of Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker) recruit her and theoretical physicist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner) to make first contact and hopefully decipher the alien language to see what they want.Īs it turns out, Louise gets the squid-like beings to communicate in pictures that she draws on a tablet and the E.T's emit into thin air using smoke or ink from their tentacles. Louise Banks, a world-class linguist gifted in breaking down languages. From TV reports, we see the usual looting, rioting, and TV cable-news talking heads having completely different opinions on the matter. And the countries of the world wait, getting increasingly unnerved. But why those 12 landing spots? Why now? What do they want? Why are they here? Infuriatingly, they don't answer. These E.T.'s are definitely NOT going for the landmarks. So, if they do have a death ray they are about to unleash, it's only going to obliterate a prairie in Montana, a rural area in Venezuela, a suburb in… odd in that they don't hover over New York, Washington, Moscow, Tokyo, and so forth. A dozen alien ships arrive in Earth's atmosphere and position themselves at odd spots around the globe. Director Denis Villeneuve has followed up "Prisoners" and "Sicario" with another impressively crafted cinematic example of tone, mood, and atmosphere. And, as of Tuesday evening just a couple of nights before release, it has garnered one-hundred percent positive on the Rotten Tomatoes review aggregator website.Īnd I DO get the appeal of the film. And the studio believes in it SO much that they are allowing reviewers to post reviews online early. But there is no joy, no showmanship, not a single moment where any of the characters cracks wise and lets just a little bit of air out of the balloon. It's the "Anti-Independence Day." Oh, there's plenty of awe and dread and spectacle throughout. OUR TAKE: 5.5 out of 10 "Arrival" is an alien-invasion movie for eggheads, elitists, intellectuals, and generally unhappy people who despise alien-invasion movies. Eventually, Louise comes to learn that these memories of her little girl are directly tied into her efforts to understand the aliens, why there are here, and what exactly they want. All the while, Louise has visions and nightmares of a daughter named Hannah (ABIGAIL PNIOWSKY) she lost to cancer at a young age. When the word "weapon" is gleaned, for instance, Louise insists it could also mean "tool."īut the other governments monitoring the starships in their territories are increasingly on edge and ready for war, taking their cues from the aggressive Chinese General Shang (TZI MA). But they can never be one-hundred percent certain. ![]() Eventually, Louise and Ian are able to ascertain that specific symbols stand in for specific words. Once inside the ship, they discover that the extraterrestrial beings are a squid-like species that is trying to communicate with a series of symbols written in ink or smoke. The operation is under the command of Colonel Weber (FOREST WHITAKER) and CIA Agent Halpern (MICHAEL STUHLBARG), who believe Louise and Ian are their best chance to decipher the aliens' language. military to come to the Montana prairie site where one of the ships is situated. Louise Banks (AMY ADAMS) and scientist Ian Donnelly (JEREMY RENNER) are recruited by the U.S. PLOT: When alien starships arrive and take up position above 12 seemingly random spots around the globe, linguist Dr. QUICK TAKE: Science-Fiction: When alien ships appear over a dozen different parts of the world, a linguist and a scientist are recruited to try and communicate with the extraterrestrials.
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