Denis Villeneuve's Arrival is an atypical large-scale Sci-fi blockbuster, a film more interested in heart and humility than action or adventure, being an experience which attempts to deconstruct a host of ideas centered around humanities penchant for fear and rejection of concepts they simply don't understand. Those going into Arrival expecting an action/adventure film are sure to be disappointed, as Arrival's intentions are squarely rooted in slow-burning suspense, deceptive negative structure, and its thematic ideals, being a film which unfortunately falls victim to having a message that at times feels very heavy-handed and overly sentimental. Centered around Dr. Louis Banks, a linguist who is recruited by the military to assist in translating the communications of an alien species, Arrival taps into the utter importance of open communication and interaction, something that is sadly in very low demand these days by many, with it being far easier to villianize those who are different than even attempt to understand where they are coming from. With mankind teetering on the verge of global war, Dr. Louis Banks races to find the answers behind the mystery of these Alien's intentions, with Denis Villeneuve creating a film brooding with mystery and a quiet, foreboding atmosphere, one that feels very much like a cinematic riddle, placing the viewer into the same headspace as the protagonist. Denis Villeneuve's Arrival laments on humanities need as a species to put away our petty differences, touching on he importance of unification and understanding, but the film is more clever than profound, playing with narrative structure in a way that certainly keeps the viewer engaged from start to finish. My main problem with Arrival is while its message is important and certainly novel, the film divulges into overly sentimentality and simplicity far too often, with the film feeling completely underwhelming once its overall riddle is solved. Aspects of this film are downright silly in nature, with many of the supporting characterizations, such as the CIA director and Colonel of the military for example, feeling laughingly one-dimensional and inorganic, simply there to serve the thematic intentions of Villeneuve's film. Featuring an important message about the overall need for open communication and understanding, Denis Villenueve's Arrival is more clever than profound, being a film that divulges into sentimentality and simplicity in the back half of its running time, which is unfortunate given the mysterious atmosphere, tension the film manages to create in the beginning.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
|