Twelve alien spacecrafts, the size of football fields and in the shape of half moons have landed in different locations around the globe. Every 18 hours they open, and allow humans inside where the “heptapod” aliens (seven legged, Daddy Long Leg shaped, but dinosaur sized) inside are trying to communicate.
Dr Louise Banks, a leading expert in linguistics is asked to assist in communicating with them. During her months long attempt she has visions of her deceased daughter, who she lost to cancer, and meets the physicist Ian Donnolly, who she develops a connection with.
Direction
Denis Villeneuve directs, and rather than over use of CGI, there is more attention to character and narrative.
There are some moments of great camera work. One such example is when the characters enter the vertical axis spaceships, the ‘gravity’ changes allowing them to walk within the ship, and the camera pans with them.
Cast/Characters
Amy Adams plays Louise, and delivers a wonderful performance. When we meet her on screen, we have been witness to her having lost her daughter to cancer, and she is quite introverted.
Jeremy Renner plays Ian, who like Louise is deeply educated, and shares her desire to communicate with the aliens.
Forrest Whitaker plays the army Col Weber who calls Banks in to assist. Other than playing a rather cliched character trope, he also uses a rather bad Bostonian accent that is quite distracting.
Screenplay/Setting/Themes
The narrative of the film progresses quite quickly, with Louise’s first interaction with the aliens occurring at the 30 minute mark.
Most of the film Louise is shown to be having flashbacks of her young daughters illness, and then death. The audience is led to believe this is the cause of her being distant, and somewhat introverted.
This ties into the reason why the aliens are on earth and their communication with us. It also gives a ‘gotcha’ ending in regards to when Louise’s parentage of Hannah began.
The primary theme of the film is communication, as Louise is the primary American who is asked to assist in communicating with the aliens. This ironically leads to miscommunication by others, which almost incites war against the aliens from the other countries where spaceships have landed.
There are many instances of teaching the aliens to read/write, and learning English – plus the theory of language itself. The screenplay is exceptionally smart, and deserved its writers an Academy Award nomination.
Not surprising this was nominated seven other Academy Awards (winning for Sound Editing), as it is a very pretty film, with great technical achievements used throughout.
Score/Soundtrack
The score by Jóhann Jóhannsson has many moments where it stands above what is happening around the events on screen; primarily during Louise’s first moments inside the ship, Donnolly’s monologue to Louise, Louise’s “treason” moment and watching Hannah grow up montage.
Overall
A very smart film, which is even smarter than me.
With brilliant performances by Adams and Renner, this is one that will make you think. With a ‘gotcha’ twist, this is a solid recommend.
4/5
Please also check out my Podcast on Youtube, where we review a new movie every week! Please subscribe!
Ryan's Movie Reviews 