Swift take: Remember 1997’s Contact starring Jodie Foster and Matthew McConaughey? Well, Hollywood is hoping you dug that one, as they gambit with a new “first contact” film about aliens dropping these giant shells across the different continents and only Amy Adams can translate just what the hell they want. Let’s hope the ending and the premise aren’t quite as far-fetched as James V. Hart’s convoluted screenplay for Contact that still leaves me a little irked all these years later.
But Arrival is written by young Eric Heisserer, whose work I have been impressed with, of late. With success making Lights Out not a completely predictable waste of time. And I think he did a tremendous job making 2011’s The Thing worthy of the original.
I am hoping this will be much better than 1996’s The Arrival with Charlie Sheen and the backwards-kneed aliens with creepy eyes. Granted, showing even a glimpse of the aliens in the trailer below is kind of a turn-off. Shouldn’t “reveal the monster” so soon. And I’m already seeing movie geeks quipping that Superman will just show up at the end of Arrival and save Lois Lane, errr, Dr. Louise Banks.
I was glad to hear the line equating weapons as tools, and how they can sometimes be both. The question is will our new friends figure that out in time to keep us from being exterminated like rodents on a sinking ship? Do we even deserve to be saved?
