James Collins Davis ’18

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A new movie in theaters is called Arrival directed by Denis Villenueve, with stars like Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner. Arrival is a captivating film about a linguistics professor, Louise Banks, and her race to understand the language of extraterrestrial life on one of twelve spaceships that landed all over our world. Professor Banks and her elite team try to understand and learn the language of the extraterrestrial life while foreign nations around the globe are on the verge of war with the visitors.

This was a good movie but could have been much better. The plot became somewhat difficult to follow. After the movie really started to develop, I had trouble understanding everything that was going on partly because of language barriers and also because of the quick passing of time. Another problem I had with the movie was its slow start. At the beginning of the movie, everything progressed very slowly, and it took about an hour for any real plot development to occur. It made me lose interest in the movie even before the excitement had really started. After about forty-five minutes I began to question whether the movie would ever take off.

However, after the hour introduction, the film began to pull me in. Once the discoveries that Professor Banks makes intrigue the viewers, the movie feels completely different. The pace of the movie quickens, making the film more exciting. I felt enveloped in the movie, watching intensely waiting for every new discovery and lead that the professor would discover.

Then, suddenly right as I felt the movie was getting really good, it ended, leaving the audience curious as to what would happen. I was almost in disbelief that the movie had ended where it did, and I was almost a little angry. It made me mad how the audience never got to see what the result of all th work of the teams and countries that participated in understanding the alien language. Maybe it ended in this way so a sequel can answer all of the remaining questions. Though I was disappointed with the ending of this film, I would suggest it to a friend because it was an interesting movie with a great plot that is sure to draw you in–eventually.