Arrival (2016)
- Thomas Duncan
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
Cast:
Denis Villeneuve, Director
Eric Heisserer, Writer
Bradford Young, Cinematography
Johann Johannsson, Music
Joe Walker, Editing
Amy Adams as Louise Banks
Jeremy Renner as Ian Donnelly
Forest Whitaker as Colonel Weber
Michael Stuhlbarg as Agent Halpern
Mark O'Brien as Captain Marks
Tzi Ma as General Shang, People’s Liberation Army
Julia Scarlett Dan as twelve-year-old Hannah
Abigail Pniowsky as eight-year-old Hannah
Jadyn Malone as six-year-old Hannah
Background:
Arrival premiered on September 1, 2016 at the Venice Film Festival and wide released on November 11, 2016.
On a rough budget of $47 million, Arrival would gross $203 million to finish #45 at the worldwide box office for 2016.
The film was met with mostly widespread critical acclaim, it would garner 8 Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Director (Villeneuve), Adapted Screenplay (Heisserer), Cinematography (Bradford Young), Production Design, Film Editing (Joe Walker), and Sound Mixing, and winning 1 Oscar for Sound Editing.
In 2021, members of Writers Guild of America West (WGAW) and Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) ranked its screenplay 27th in WGA's 101 Greatest Screenplays of the 21st Century (so far).
In 2025, the film ranked number 29 on The New York Times' list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century" and number 20 on the "Readers' Choice" edition of the list.
Arrival currently holds a 94% among critics on RT, an 81 score on Metacritic, and a 4.1/5 on Letterboxd.
Plot Summary: Arrival follows linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams) who is recruited by the military when mysterious alien ships appear at twelve sites worldwide. Working alongside physicist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner) and Colonel Weber (Forrest Whitaker), she begins decoding the aliens' strange, circular language — and the more she learns, the more her own sense of time starts to unravel. As tensions rise between nations racing to respond, Louise uncovers a deeply personal truth that reshapes everything she thought she knew about her own life.
Did You Know:
Ted Chiang, who wrote the story the film is based upon, approved the film, saying "I think it's that rarest of the rare in that it's both a good movie and a good adaptation... And when you consider the track record of adaptations of written science fiction, that's almost literally a miracle."
Amy Adams was Denis Villeneuve's first choice for Louise Banks. She agreed to the role within 24 hours of receiving the screenplay.
The classical music piece that bookends the film is "On the Nature of Daylight" by Max Richter. Its prominence during the film and the fact that it was a pre-existing track meant that Jóhann Jóhannsson's score was deemed ineligible for an Academy Award despite being highly acclaimed.
The alien written language was designed specifically for the film, with each circular symbol representing an entire idea rather than individual words.
"Dirty Sci-fi" is what director Denis Villeneuve and cinematographer Bradford Young called the look they created together for Arrival (2016). Villeneuve wanted it to feel like "This was happening on a bad Tuesday morning, like when you were a kid on the school bus on a rainy day and you would dream while looking out the window at the clouds."
Best Performance: Amy Adams (Louise)
Best Secondary Performance: Denis Villeneuve (Director)/Jeremy Renner (Ian)
Most Charismatic Award: Denis Villeneuve (Director)/Bradford Young (Cinematography)
Best Scene:
Arrival
Colonel Weber Recruits Banks
First Contact
Explosion
General Shang
Favorite Scene: First Contact/General Shang
Most Indelible Moment: General Shang/First Contact
In Memorium:
Bunny Levine, 97, American actress (Thelma, Gilmore Girls, You Don't Mess with the Zohan)
Shelley Fabares, 82, American actress (The Donna Reed Show, Coach) and singer ("Johnny Angel")
Tim Curry, 80, English actor and singer (Rocky Horror Picture Show, Home Alone 2, Clue, Muppet Treasure Island, It (TV), McHale's Navy, Addams Family Reunion, The Hunt for Red October), daytime Emmy and Grammy winner
Dolly Parton, 80, American musician and actress (songs: “Jolene,” “Coat of Many Colors” and “I Will Always Love You,” films: 9 to 5, Rhinestone, Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias), 11x Grammy Award and 3x Emmy Award winner
Best Lines/Funniest Lines:
Louise Banks: If you could see your whole life from start to finish, would you change things?
Ian Donnelly: Maybe I'd say what I felt more often. I-I don't know.
Louise Banks: But now I'm not so sure I believe in beginnings and endings. There are days that define your story beyond your life. Like the day they arrived.
Ian Donnelly: [reading from a book by Louise Banks] "Language is the foundation of civilization. It is the glue that holds a people together. It is the first weapon drawn in a conflict."
Louise Banks: I forgot how good it felt to be held by you.
Ian Donnelly: You know I've had my head tilted up to the stars for as long as I can remember. You know what surprised me the most? It wasn't meeting them. It was meeting you.
Louise Banks: If all I ever gave you was a hammer...
Colonel Weber: Everything's a nail...
Louise Banks: [narrating] So, Hannah... This is where your story begins. The day they departed. Despite knowing the journey... and where it leads... I embrace it. And I welcome every moment of it.
Louise Banks: [narrating] Memory is a strange thing.
Ian Donnelly: If you immerse yourself into a foreign language, then you can actually rewire your brain.
Louise Banks: Yeah, the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. It's the theory that the language you speak determines how you think and...
Ian Donnelly: Yeah, it affects how you see everything.
Interpreter: In their final session, the alien said, "There is no time. Many become one."
Louise Banks: Trust me, you can, uh, understand communication and still end up single.
The Stanley Rubric:
Legacy: 6.5
Impact/Significance: 7.25
Novelty: 8.75
Classic-ness: 7.25
Rewatchability: 3.5
Audience Score: 8.1 (7.9 IMDB, 83% RT)
Total: 41.35
Remaining Questions:
Why did Louise tell Ian about their daughter?
Why can only Louise see time like the Septapods?
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