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That is to say, there are plenty of strong contenders for the best Sci-Fi movie of the 21st Century, and if you wanted to pick, say, Children of Men or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, it’d be difficult to find too much to argue over. But for me, the very best of the bunch comes from the director who has defined and dominated the genre over the past decade or so: Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival. More so than his Blade Runner 2049 or Dune: Part Two – as much as I think both are phenomenal – or anything else, Arrival is the Sci-Fi movie that’s stayed with me more than any other from the past 25 years of releases.
Why Arrival Is Such A Great Sci-Fi Movie
Arrival, based on Ted Chiang’s short story Story of Your Life, takes a classic Sci-Fi narrative device – the alien invasion – but puts a whole new spin on it. What if the aliens weren’t simply a threat to be dealt with by force, but a species you could actually try to communicate with, and even learn from? The way Villeneuve’s movie finds new ground in one of the genre’s most well-worn concepts is just one reason to appreciate the movie, but it’s far from the only one, nor is it the biggest.
That might well be Amy Adams. Herself one of the 21st Century’s finest actresses, she’s given no greater performance than her turn here as linguist Louise Banks, the person who must learn to communicate with the aliens (or heptapods), and on whose shoulders the fate of the world rests. Adams is astonishing yet understated in the role, giving a performance of quiet power and genuine empathy that grounds the movie, making it all feel believable, and is core to why the film works so well.
