By Jake Harvey

Note: Watch Arrival Before Reading.

I have such a distinct memory of seeing this movie in theaters when it came out. That opening score had me glued to my seat. Max Richter’s On the Nature of Daylight was a perfect choice for such an opening. And then for it to come back at the end, fitting all too well with the time-bending plot of the film? Brilliant bookending!

Denis Villeneuve’s 2016 sci-fi drama Arrival is a fascinating, moving exploration of the human condition. The fact of the matter is, whether you translate the Heptapods offering to humans as a “weapon” or a “tool”, humanity will surely find a way to use it as both! In this movie, we see a humankind struggling to unite. Everyone feels threatened by their fellow humans, and few and far between are those willing to share from their store of wisdom for the wellbeing of all. And yet, it is these few individuals who carve the way toward progress and peace. The irony of making fellow humans into “aliens” who can’t be trusted is especially poignant.

This movie holds up so well as a piece of science fiction and simply as a film, with a great score and creative cinematography leading the way. The plot itself, too, is well-adapted from the source material* and succeeds under strong direction, good acting, and tremendous editing. That said, no movie is perfect, and I do have a few small critiques.

First, I think the pacing does lose some steam at some points. When you’re dreading the parts when humans get the chance to interact with sick alien species, that’s probably a sign something didn’t pull together perfectly. I really felt the length of these scenes and others, which is truly a bummer. What some could see as patience I see as slight bloating – to each their own. 

On top of that, I really just can’t get over the fact that the emotional peak of the film’s ending is accompanied by the line “Do you want to make a baby?” Come on, now! What a powerful scene soured by a very unnecessary and rather cringey line. This is such a nitpick, I know, but it really drug me out of the story at a moment that should have been wholly profound.

Finally, this movie’s main message, while immensely moving, is carried out by the protagonist in a deeply problematic fashion. Let me explain. On the one hand, I really admire the movie’s core message, communicated very clearly near the end by our protagonist, Louise: “Despite knowing the journey and where it leads, I embrace it. And I welcome every moment of it.” I resonate with this in a way, as I wouldn’t change anything about experiences I’ve lived through, joyous or devastating. The culmination of those experiences have led me to where I am today, and I wouldn’t tamper with them given the chance. That said, I do still hold some regret for the ways my poor actions have affected other people, and this leads me to seek out reconciliation with those people. This caveat is an important one that I don’t see the movie making. It’s one thing for Louise to say she welcomes every coming moment, but a wholly different thing for her to make the decision for others (in this case, Ian and their daughter Hannah). It is extremely ethically messy for her to continue into her future with Ian without making him aware of what she knows. When you love someone, you plan life with them, not on their behalf. To leave Ian in the dark on this is quite problematic. I do not say this to excuse Ian’s response in the slightest, as I want to hold him to proper fathering, but it does give explanation for his sudden disappearance. Not every protagonist has to be perfect for a movie to be good, but such a glaring misjudgment of basic ethics is hard for me to dismiss.

Overall, Arrival is still a very profound and beautiful film which is somewhat limited by some minor pacing issues, out-of-touch side characters, and an ultimately boring (sorry, not sorry!) and ethically convoluted protagonist.

*If you’re curious about how the film was edited and adapted from Tim Chiang’s 1998 short story “Story of Your Life”, I definitely recommend this YouTube essay from Lessons from the Screenplay.