[wp-review id=”71712″]
Linguist Louise Banks is a woman who has had a rough go of things lately. Her young daughter slowly developed cancer and passed away, leaving Louise in a sullen state. When Louise arrives at her school to teach her class, all of the students and faculty are preoccupied with what’s on the news. There are 12 objects around the world that have arrived from somewhere unknown.
Colonel Weber is one of the members of the military who is in charge of trying to find out who they are and why they’re here. He knows that Louise has worked with the government before with some help with Farsi translations. They need her help to begin the communication process and learn more about these visitors.
ARRIVAL is directed by Denis Villeneuve who is best known for directing PRISONERS, SICARIO, and the upcoming BLADE RUNNER 2049. The film is up for 8 Oscar nominations including: Best Motion Picture of the Year, Best Achievement in Directing, Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay, Best Achievement in Cinematography, Best Achievement in Film Editing, Best Achievement in Sound Mixing, Best Achievement in Sound Editing, and Best Achievement in Production Design. It is written by Eric Heisserer and based on the book “Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang. Chiang believes that science fiction should take a look at the human condition and not solely focus on the military aspect, leading into how he created this story.
Villeneuve is arguably one of the best directors in Hollywood today. He is a very visual director but he doesn’t solely rely on them alone, he makes sure to have relatable subject matter to round off his films. This is his first try at science fiction and after seeing this; I have a lot of faith in him doing the BLADE RUNNER film, due out in October of this year. He also consistency chooses a strong cast to bring his visions to life.
Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner are perfect for the lead characters because the both of them have such a vast range in their acting that I don’t think I could see anyone better portraying these characters. The absolute standout here is Adams and I cannot believe she didn’t get a nomination for this role. Not only is the character completely believable but also the passion she has to make sure we go about everything correctly.
I really have a lot of love for this movie. First off, I love sci-fi because just the idea of having a story that can use real science in a fictional setting. I also really enjoy the genre when the story has very really science such as this or even a film like EX MACHINA. I appreciate the film even more after finding out the level of science applied here, particularly in the communication.
Cast
Amy Adams – Louise Banks
Jeremy Renner – Ian Donnelly
Forest Whitaker – U.S. Army Colonel G T Weber
Michael Stuhlbarg – Agent David Halpern
Tzi Ma – General Shang
Mark O’Brien – Captain Marks
VIDEO QUALITY:
The video is a 1080p AVC transfer and, for the most part, looks great but very dark. Even the outdoor scenes in what would be a sunny day has a darkening filter that makes the brightness seem turned down. The indoor scenes make the shadowed areas lose detailing and become muddled. However, these are in the absolute darkest parts of the scenes. The coloring is muted and has little brilliance at all. You only see it in some of the artwork and the HAZMAT suits. The brightest and most detailed scenes are in the position of the ship where the humans are communicating with the heptapods. This is due to the bright white divider that they use making everything in the room filled with the light.
AUDIO QUALITY:
The audio is a DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 mix that is powerful. It is immersive in every sense of the word. The layered mix has a hard-hitting score that uses LFEs and has a very unique sound. It almost sounds like otherworldly chanting and it perfectly sets the tone. As for the effects, the heptapods have echoing sounds that they use for “speech” that reverberates in the entire sound field. The dialogue has been reproduced clearly and cleanly.
SUPPLEMENTS & PACKAGING
-Xenolinguistics: Understanding Arrival: This featurette looks at the production as a whole from inceptionto screen. There are interviews with the filmmakers, actors, and writers to give plenty of insight to the film.
-Acoustic Signatures: The Sound Design: This featurette shows how the sound in the film has been carefully crafted to deliver the filmmakers intentions in the movie.
-Eternal Recurrence: The Score: This featurette looks over this unique score and, like any score should, how it sets the tone of the film.
-Nonlinear Thinking: The Editing Process: Like the sound and the score, this featurette shows how the filmmakers took plenty of care in editing the film.
-Principles of Time, Memory, & Language: The featurette here dives into the film and how there is more science than fiction here.
Disc Details
1 Blu-ray Disc
Digital copy
Running Time
116 mins
Edition Ratings
Rated PG-13
Region Coding
Region Free
Video Resolution
1080p AVC MPEG-4 AVC
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Audio Mixes
English DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1
French Canadian Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles
English
English SDH
French
Spanish
THE BOTTOM LINE:
I can easily say that I think ARRIVAL is a success. The Blu-ray has a very good video transfer and a superb audio mix. The extras give plenty of insight into every aspect of the film and takes you deeper into making it than I was expecting. This is a film that takes the audience on an incredible journey to the unexpected. It would be amazing if it was possible to make the world whole and see that all of our differences are what make us the same. I highly recommend picking this up because you are in for a story that is worthy of not only the nomination but should win Best Picture this year.
