By Travis Johnson
Following on from the intriguing teaser that dropped last week comes a meatier look at Arrival, the upcoming film from Denis Villeneuve (Sicario, Prisoners). Amy Adams is a linguist recruited by Forest Whitaker’s steely colonel to handle first contact duties when a number of huge alien objects enter our atmosphere and just sort of hang there, sending the general populace into hysterics. Jeremy Renner’s in support as a mathematician who backs Adams against the more militaristic minds caught up in the events.
What this feels like, more than anything, is a more pessimistic answer to Close Encounters of the Third Kind. While Spielberg’s film was all about the wonders of discovery and communication, Villeneuve’s – based on the short story, “Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang – is about the dangers of miscommunication and mixed messages. At one point it’s noted that Earth lacks a single authority for the aliens to speak to, at another that they may not know the difference between a tool and a weapon.
Arrival arrives in theatres on November 10, 2016.
