"Arrival" - A Review

This isn't like in the movies.

When alien ships descend upon the Earth without taking any hostile action, Dr. Louise Banks (Amy Adams) and Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner) are recruited by the United State military to ascertain the aliens' purpose on Earth - and do so in a peaceful manner. Unfortunately, the language barrier between the humans and the aliens is making it difficult to complete that task. So begins the quest of Dr. Banks as she tries to decode the alien language so that communication can be established.

Arrival is not your typical alien disaster movie where the aliens arrive on Earth and start destroying stuff. This is not a film about humanity trying to defend themselves from an alien horde. Instead, this film is about trying to establish peaceful first contact. This gives the film's story a rather original feel. It's not often that you see a movie about two scholars trying to understand a language.

This is all probably making the film sound really boring, but it is not. Though the pacing is a little slow, the film takes full advantage of it. Prolonged sequences of the main characters' first look at and inside the aliens' ship is used to masterful affect, actually instilling a sense of awe in the viewer (unlike a certain Star Trek film that just so happened to be the first one ever made...). Elsewhere, the slow pacing gives the film a grounded feel. As a matter of fact, everything about this film feels really grounded - an uncommon trait amongst sci-fi films. Everything from the dialogue to the visuals to the lighting to the camera work gave the film a very real feel. Throughout the film, I could not shake the feeling that the events that were unfolding in front of me could believably be happening, which is not a feeling that most movies give me. In fact, this may the first film I have ever seen that did so.

On the whole, I thought the writing in this was really good. The story is told in a non-linear fashion, which means you have to be paying attention while watching this film. However, I do not think this detracts from the film. Rather, it enhances the film by adding to its intensity. I thoroughly enjoyed trying to figure out what was going on, and by the end everything is very clearly explained, giving the feeling of a journey being completed. It made the film a very rewarding experience.

In addition to the story, the acting is wonderful. Amy Adams totally nails her character, injecting her character with a perfect combination of nervousness and wonder. Jeremy Renner is fun to watch (as usual) in the supporting role. The chemistry between the two is also excellent. These two actors carry the film, and they do so to perfection.

Before I conclude, I want to mention the score as well. I don't mention film scores in my reviews very often, but this is one of those times when the score deserves some recognition. This is not one of those scores that is in your face throughout the film. Rather, the score is quieter and more subtle. It appropriately sets the tone for each scene and keeps you on edge as you watch the film. Of the film scores I have listened to, it also has the most unique sound, so there's that too.

It is unfortunate that Arrival came out when it did because it came out right in between the new Marvel film (Doctor Strange) and the new Harry Potter film (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them). As such, this film will probably go unnoticed by a lot of viewers. I think that is very unfortunate. While I can't speak for Fantastic Beasts because I haven't seen it, I can say for a fact that Arrival is a much better film than Doctor Strange. (Although I can say with a bit of certainty that Arrival is probably better than Fantastic Beasts as well... sorry, Potter fans). I know it's easy to ignore standalone films when big franchise films are out, but please don't cheat yourself on this one. Arrival is a stunning, well-made film that deserves as much recognition (if not more) as the franchise films that are out right now. This film deserves to become a classic. Go see it.

"Doctor Strange" - A Review

Doctor Strange is the fourteenth installment in the film division of what has now become known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe (or as the fans call it, the MCU). Honestly, it's impressive that Marvel Studios has managed to build such a massive film franchise and have it last for so long. Not only that, but they've managed to crank out consistently good films - with a few exceptions in the beginning (looking at you Incredible Hulk and Iron Man 2). However, since then Marvel has been on a roll with their films - until Doctor Strange. That's right, Doctor Strange is the first bad film Marvel has released in a while. And yes, it's worse than Thor: The Dark World.

Don't get me wrong, the film has some stunning visual effects. It's a beautifully made film. However, underneath all of those flashy visuals is a half-baked story and almost no character development. The story is very formulaic. They basically took the basic formula of your typical superhero origin film and did nothing to make it stand out story-wise. That's not to say that the film doesn't stand out. The fact that the film is about a group called the Masters of the Mystic Arts ensures that this film will be at least a little unique from other superhero origin films. But I'm not talking about those kinds of differences. I'm talking about the storyline itself. The storyline is quite simple: arrogant jerk has something bad happen to him, he seeks to repair the damage, and then he becomes a superhero. If that sounds vaguely familiar, that's because it's also the storyline of such superhero origin films as Iron Man, Batman Begins, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The problem is that unlike these three films, Doctor Strange has just the basic plot elements of a superhero origin. The film is like a chicken dish without any sauce or seasoning.

The character development is also atrocious. We don't get to know any of the characters very well, except for Doctor Strange himself and (to a lesser extent) his friend Mordo. But even the way Doctor Strange is set up as a character is pretty shallow. They pretty much just showed him being arrogant and expected us to fill in the blanks by inserting character points from Tony Stark and Sherlock Holmes (the version from the BBC's Sherlock series). Though, to be fair, they did a pretty good job of showing is journey from being a Stark/Sherlock mashup to being a hero who is willing to put his life on the line for the people of earth. And Benedict Cumberbatch was (as always) a pleasure to watch as Doctor Strange. Mordo, on the other hand, has an interesting development as a character throughout the film. Unfortunately, we feel nothing either good or bad for where he ends up in the film because we hardly know what he was like before the journey began.

As for all of the other characters, they are sorely underdeveloped. Tilda Swinton's Ancient One is just a boring mentor stereotype with no real development. Her character is an example of how NOT to write a character who is supposed to be mysterious. Swinton's talents were definitely wasted in this movie. Mads Mikkelsen's villainous Kaecilius has literally no character development whatsoever - which is really disappointing because the prelude comics for Doctor Strange set him up as a pretty sympathetic character, and then the movie totally ignored all of that development and did nothing with the character. It was almost like they were expecting you to read the comics in order to understand the character's motives. I shouldn't have to do homework before I go watch a movie. If I do, that's lazy storytelling.

I've been really harsh with this movie thus far. However, unlike what you probably think, I didn't hate it. I thought it was an entertaining movie. It was a lot of fun to watch. But the characters and the story weren't developed well enough, which means that the emotional moments just don't work. There was scene in particular that I mentioned to my friends that I saw the film with. I won't explain it here because it's a major plot point, but this scene was supposed to be really emotional. However, I literally felt nothing when it happened because I didn't care about the characters involved. The film was so focused on looking cool, that it forgot to tell a good story. It's like a painting that is beautiful to look at but does not stay in your memory because it doesn't convey anything.