Cerebral alien visitation yarn ‘Arrival’ lacks a satisfying payoff (Movie review)

Like many alien visitation films before it, “Arrival” asks “What is their purpose on Earth?” After the requisite opening where the world tenses up as 12 giant egg-shaped spaceships take up stations around the globe, “Arrival” zeroes in on that core question, boiling away all the “Independence Day”-style destruction and embracing its status as a think piece. It doubles as a character piece for Amy Adams’ linguist Louise, and while there are certainly worse actresses to spend a couple hours with, “Arrival” didn’t have enough of an emotional payoff for me to place it alongside “2001” or “Contact” or even “Interstellar.”

Strictly from a “homework” perspective, it is fascinating to see how Louise and her colleague, Ian (Jeremy Renner), decode the aliens’ written language, which looks like Rorschach ink blots from my monolingual perspective. Based on Ted Chiang’s short piece “Story of Your Life,” “Arrival” intriguingly posits that the way people experience reality is constrained by the language they speak, write and think in. So Louise has to think in a different way in order to understand the heptapods (so called for their seven legs), communicate with them and experience reality the way they do.

Director Denis Villeneuve – who also helmed the gripping murder mystery/character study “Prisoners” (2013) — lingers on details such as Louise and Ian suiting up in hazmat gear and the investigative team dizzyingly crossing the egg ship’s threshold where the direction of the gravity shifts. And, as with “Independence Day: Resurgence” – which features a similarly mysterious ship in the opening act — the militaries of Earth loom in the viewers’ minds as threats to peace more so than keepers of peace. China’s shoot-first General Shang (Tzi Ma, practically reprising his role from “24”) is the embodiment of that danger, although U.S. Agent Halpern (Michael Stuhlbarg) isn’t much better.

With the backdrop built so effectively, and with Johann Johannsson’s basso profondo notes urging us along when the team enters the egg-ship’s tunnel, it’s easy to imagine some profound message is coming around the bend. There is indeed an “a-ha” moment about midway through the film – which might come at slightly different points for different viewers – where we realize the actual meaning of the movie. How much this twist connects with you – and how much you’re willing to forgive the film’s shaky logic — will determine how much you like “Arrival.”

SPOILERS FOLLOW.

As it turns out, the heptapods’ communication does not distinguish between past, present and future. Presumably, this is because they somehow exist outside of time in addition to existing within time – or at least they have awareness of different points in time even as they move through it linearly. So we learn the answer to “What is their purpose on Earth?”: It’s to give Louise the gift of seeing the future, so that she can say the exact right thing to get Shang to call off the dogs; this will also have the pleasant side effect of ushering in a new era of peace and cooperation between nations. In exchange for this gift, the heptapods hope humanity will help them 3,000 years in the future against an unexplained threat.

That solves the plot, but the actual heart of the movie is Louise’s relationship with her daughter, Hannah — played by actresses aged 6, 8 and 12 who look different enough that it slightly took me out of the movie. This thread is also key to “Arrival’s” “a-ha” twist, as we realize Hannah’s death from cancer, presumably in the past, actually happens in the future.

Although I understood the twist, and even kind of anticipated it (I felt that the lack of mention of a father was a major clue), it didn’t totally work for me. For one thing, it’s unexplained how Louise has the gift of seeing the future BEFORE the aliens give her that gift. I suppose once we enter the realm of brains that aren’t tethered to linear time, that ALMOST explains that.

The nature of Louise’s memories of the future is completely inexplicable, though, and this is where “Arrival” falls apart on a close analysis. There are two possibilities, yet neither one fits cleanly: 1) Louise thinks her memories of Hannah are from her past, or 2) Louise knows these memories are not from her past, and is confused by why she is having them.

Option 1 doesn’t fit. If Louise thinks these are genuine memories, she would’ve said something about Hannah to a loved one at some point. That person would think Louise has lost her marbles and dreamed up an imaginary daughter – and their reaction would subsequently make Louise wonder why she’s the only one who remembers Hannah. Then she’d look up records and find out Hannah never existed, and she’d realize she’s crazy, or she’d think there’s a grand conspiracy to make her look nuts. None of this backstory is in “Arrival.”

Option 2 comes closer, but it doesn’t fit either. When the aliens arrive, most people’s lives are turned upside-down by this one extra-normal fact. Louise, however, is now dealing with two extra-normal facts: the alien visitation AND her encroaching memories of a daughter. When she realizes that the heptapods’ language does not account for linear time, the parallel to her encroaching memories should click in her mind.

But it doesn’t – not at all. This brilliant woman is unable to see the connection between the only two things that are occupying her emotional mind (which are also the two most bizarre things to happen in her life). It’s not until the aliens hit her over the head with it – with a particularly strong blast of Hannah images, as if to say “Do you get it now, primitive human?!” – that she collapses to her knees and puts it together.

I think the real-world reason for Louise being slow on the uptake is that screenwriter Eric Heisserer doesn’t want her to be ahead of the audience; he wants us to be with her every step of the way – and maybe even ahead of her – so that we can sympathize with her and feel clever for figuring out the twist.

A quick side note for the sake of comparison: In the TV show “Frequency” – which features daughter and father cops communicating through time — we’re told that Raimy simultaneously holds two sets of memories (the original memories plus the new memories from the new reality created by sending information back to her dad in 1996). “Frequency” makes sure to zero in on a confused Raimy as the fresh montage of memories washes over her. It’s a bit heavy handed, perhaps. But “Arrival’s” similar conceit isn’t handed to us at all.

And then we’re supposed to get teared up by Louise deciding to make a baby with Ian despite her knowledge that Hannah will die of cancer as a teenager – not to mention her knowledge that she and Ian will split up when she gives him the information about Hannah’s predestined fate years later.

“Arrival” offers such a dizzying hodgepodge of information and emotions that it’s hard to know what to feel about the film, especially since the feelings are untethered from linear time and since nothing adds up cleanly. This is the mark of an interesting sci-fi story, for sure, and it perhaps works beautifully in the form of Chiang’s prose. But the mark of a great film is that it makes you feel something and then makes you think about why you feel that way. “Arrival” worked for a lot of people, and I don’t begrudge them that. But I was feeling confusion above all else.