Film: Arrival

  A sci-fi flick with family undertones - Arrival is this year’s Martian/Interstellar/Gravity. So there is a lot of heavy breathing from behind a mask.This one opens with Louise Banks (Amy Adams) watching her daughter grow up but then there is no sign of her- or is there? Soon Dr Banks has a visit from an Army Colonel (Forest Whitaker) at the university she teaches to ask for her help. There are mysterious oval-shaped spaceships landed all over the world and she is needed to translate their messages, written in the form of inky circles. Only she needs to learn their language first.Dr Banks has the help – along with equal enthusiasm and commitment - from physicist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner), another expert pulled into to lead a team to find out what the aliens want.I like that there is no shrieking in this film. There is no call for it. When faced with the alien form as displayed in Arrival, the only response is shock. And certainly when one decides to take off protective gear and reveal her face to the aliens, she is beyond screaming but instead, understanding that the aliens are on Earth’s side.It doesn’t have the breath-taking power of the other three films I’m probably unfairly comparing it with. This one is on earth and about other beings, but it sure has enough to get you thinking.7½/10