Arrival is not your typical alien invasion movie. The film contains no space travel, no battles between humanity and extraterrestrial life, and no secret super weapon that could be used against one another. Instead, it’s all about one crucial tool: language.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W1m5ER3I1Y
Arrival has been doing remarkably well despite its modest budget, initial distribution and thoughtful subject matter.
"[Arrival] is that rarity in Hollywood these days of a movie that really makes you think about things and a movie that is worth talking about - hence the word-of-mouth spread of attention this movie has gotten," says film contributor and Arts and Entertainment editor for the Shepherd Express, Dave Luhrssen.
"It certainly is the most interesting, and I'll say for me, the best science fiction movie in quite some time," he adds.
Based on the short story Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang, the film does well in adapting the written story, Luhrssen says. "I think that the movie did many things very well including the excitement and the tension, the uncertainty," he says.
However, one weakness Luhrssen sites in the film is the flat secondary characters. "I do think the film would have benefited by a more dynamic secondary cast, including better written characterizations for them," he says.
Despite the weakness of secondary characters or some of the pacing in the film, Luhrssen notes Amy Adams' performance was noteworthy, and the film itself does a great job in taking a complicated subject and making it engaging and understandable for large audiences.
"It's a challenging topic to undertake and I certainly take my hat off to all the people who were engaged in this," he says.
