I think Amy Adams is trying to tell the aliens something…..

Well it’s the day after a certain sci-fi film came out and of course, there was a rush to all pile into the cinemas in the small hours to ensure that the mega uber fans could say they’ve seen it before everyone else. But who would want me to talk about Moulin Rouge One: A Star Wars Story, where Lady Gaga builds the Death Star while Darth Vader writes poetry? Nah, that’s so like me last year where I rushed to see The Force Awakens…..

Instead I’m here to bring you a mini meh about another sci-fi film which various people were leaping to their knees to proclaim it’s the best thing since the last best thing. I’m guessing now that we approach the end of the year that the Oscar Bait season is upon us as that’s the only way I can begin to describe this film. Or is that rather being unfair perhaps?

Well let’s at least start with a bit of the plot and see if it takes your fancy; Huge badly shaped spaceships settle down in various places around the world and then do nothing else for a bit. We see various people go crazy while watching the event on the news and then naturally we get a lovely scene where we see the military commanding chap in the guise of Forest Whitaker try and get experts in to chat to the aliens in a rather cliched way but what can you do?

We then see the best of the best in the USA’s elite fighting / scientific / translation / hockey team being assembled in a field where we see expert linguist Louise Banks (played by Amy Adams) and top Maths bloke Ian Donnelly (played by Hawkeye from the Marvel films or Jeremy Renner). Sadly as what always seems to happen when aliens come along, mankind once again teeters on the verge of war, Amy Adams and the team race against time for answers–and to find them, she will take a chance that could threaten everything. By writing words on a board.

Ok, first word….sounds like….. arse?

Of course we’re going to see the human race go a bit nuts while all this happens (including what I believe is an attempt to start a war with the aliens because of stupidity) and then we get the major plot point which of course actually becomes what the film’s message was about it seems rather than the aliens themselves, which is actually pretty clever and also at the same time, just a WTF? The reason why I say that as it then raises a massive question about Amy Adam’s chracter and her actions past, present and future. It just threw me off the whole film and then just started to wonder about whether or not it was really any good.

Now granted it’s certainly a much better attempt at being intelligent and for once not just assuming the aliens are always going to be hostile. The acting on the whole isn’t too shabby and certain motivations make sense. It’s once the main point is revealed that it all goes a bit wrong in my eyes as it’s then the aliens were really just a device to move things along and in some respects, unresolved too. There will be questions as to why they really were there and whether or not they could have actually been more direct given what was revealed rather than spend ages making ink blot tests for people to try and translate.

In the end I just walked out bewildered as to how such a film with a promising start then just became so personal and in hindsight was just about one question which Amy Adam’s chracter just asks directly to the audience right at the end before the credits start rolling. It was kind of a let down and in no way was really like how it was coming across in trailers. The music certainly is different, giving gravitas, but I suspect that this film as a whole will be given much more praise than it actually deserves. At worst it was alright with a few great scenes and a very interesting take on communication.

Would I recommend this to anyone? Err….. with reluctance. It’s certainly not a film I would watch again but at least I’m happy to have seen it the once. Sadly it does have all the hallmarks of chasing shiny shiny statues and given other films are fast on the horizon for based on true story syndrome etc, it’s a little hard to not write about that aspect here. Given a certain Star Wars film was just coming out now….. I suspect any audience for this has been and gone now.