Arrival (2016) * * 1/2

Directed by:  Denis Villenueve

Starring:  Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker, Michael Stuhlbarg, Tzi Ma

I am reviewing Arrival after a few days of thoughtful reflection, which is not necessarily favorable to the film.    If I had reviewed it shortly after seeing it, I would have given it three stars.     But, despite the film's effective atmosphere and a multi-dimensional Amy Adams performance which anchors it, Arrival does not hold up under scrutiny.    What exactly was it about?    There is a revelation that challenges the viewer's perception of time and point of view, but were the aliens really needed to draw that out?    This is the first movie I've seen involving aliens in which I felt bad they expended their time, energy, and resources with no real payoff.    At least not for them.     Their plight is something that no one living can help them with anyhow.

As Arrival opens, linguistics professor Doctor Louise Banks (Adams) is dealing with the loss of her only child to cancer and a seemingly broken marriage.    She comes to teach a class one day, but learning is not on anyone's mind.    Aliens have landed their crafts in twelve different parts of the world.     Landed may not be the appropriate word.    They hover a few feet above the ground and allow scientists and military personnel to enter approximately every 18 hours.    Military man Colonel Weber (Whitaker) enlists Louise's help to decipher the aliens' language and discover their true intentions.  

Assisting Louise is Ian Donnelly (Renner), a nuclear physicist fascinated by the scientific possibilities of the aliens' arrival, assuming humanity isn't wiped off the face of the Earth.    The aliens themselves look like a cross between octopi and the ghosts that chased Pac-Man around.     They appear friendly, but their language consisting mostly of symbols and shapes, is difficult to decipher.     But, Louise is able to learn parts of the language enough to have a decent conversation.    As the rest of the world approaches the aliens in fear and prepare for war, Louise is the only voice of reason.     Leading the call for arms is General Shang (Ma), a hardliner who softens his stance thanks to Louise in a way I am still trying to figure.  

Amy Adams is, as usual, terrific.    She is able to make the silliest material work through sheer conviction and personality.    In Arrival, she suggests dimensions in her grief over her child that make her a real person and not just a cold scientist looking for answers.     The opening scenes are truly powerful and set the tone for the film.    We wait to see if there is any connection between Louise's grief and the aliens.     We wait and we wait.    Soon, there comes the "shit or get off the pot" moment in which Louise finally just asks the octopi what their purpose is.     These scenes are handled with subtitles, thank goodness, but the payoff for our patience is underwhelming.    Any emotional impact is muted by our head-scratching.  

Yet, Arrival does contain moments of true power.    Director Villenueve, as he did in Prisoners, creates a cold, cloudy, damp atmosphere which is more effective here than in Prisoners.    Arrival isn't necessarily a fun film to watch.    But, it has enough scenes to keep us interested only to leave us with more questions than answers.     I admit I was underwhelmed.