ARRIVAL

The unique script and fragmented plots, I think that the casts also did a very good job in expressing their roles to draw the audience into a compelling and self-questioning mode. The best part is the director chose the famous Hollywood stars, who are Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner played most of the important parts.

One of the main cast of the movie, she started off with a darkness in her life where she, a single mother of a daughter, where they had great time living together despite her husband’s absence. That is until her daughter had an incurable sickness, who later passed away.

Being different from other types of movie, this film has a relatively small cast of human characters and even lesser number of characters who actually spend much significant time on the screen. However, the dialogues are efficient when it needs to be, and convey complicated concepts and meanings. The main character, Louise Bank, played by Amy Adams, who is a prominent linguistics professor. She is known as a heroine with heartfelt, responsible, intelligent and brave characteristics. I think that Louise is a well-designed character in the story in terms of her personality, spirit, appearance and even the shelter that she lives.

From her appearance and her house, I’ve known that she is an independence, can rely on her own, smart and passionate person in her career. Her courage and determined personality is well explored when she approaches the task of communicating with the creatures that don’t rely information the way humans do. Despite all the difficulties and discontinuation of mission by the government, she never gives up on searching the right way to help and save both of the aliens and also the countries to prevent war. These can be seen through her face expression and action on certain scenes.

This setting creates a moody atmosphere for the transaction into the next key scene of the movie, the arrival. It also further promotes the character into the perfect protagonist as she took the risk to understand, and communicate with the so-called aliens to find out the reason behind what seemed to be an invasion.

Another protagonist in this movie is called Ian Donnelly, played by Jeremy Renner, who is an expert in theoretical physics and mathemathic. His job is to find out what is the purpose of the aliens arrived on earth together with Louise. For me, he is also a character that makes me to introspect on making judgment. It is because in the beginning, his arrogance saying that scientists are the pioneer of civilization but not linguist, embarrassed Louise on the helicopter when they first met. But after working with Louise, he is amazed by her spirit and stillness and started to admire and fall in love for her in the end. Being a supportive colleague, he also never gives up on learning the alien language with Louise, and is the one who support and assist her until the end. He enriches the heavy and intense story, turns it into hopeful and lovely at the end.

Some minor character act as antagonists in the story such as the CIA officer also helps to build a more tension and compelling plot to draw you in. His aggressiveness on handling the military task and urge Louise and Ian to stop the mission is to bring out the determined characteristic of Louise. General Shang’s act also let me know that the current political situation among countries and the powerful status of China in the world. Last but not least, the aliens, Costello and Abbeto are also well-designed as a mirror to Louise and Ian. They are as same as the humans, comes to the earth with a mission to learn human language in order to save their species they might in danger in the future. They might know they will get harm, but they still landed and try to communicate with the human. Their sacrifices and patient make the story more valuable and touching when they save Ian and Louise from being killed by the bomb. General Shang on the other hand showed a dominant leadership in the plot, where he greatly influences the whole outcome of the people’s action. It is up to him to differ outcome of the whole plot.

All these character are played in to their role in more straightforward approach as they both need little depth and history to it. Colonel Weber provides a bold and leadership towards the whole operation, as the plot went by, and it makes important decision wisely during the time of stress. As for Agent Halpern, he was there to fit into this mild antagonist as he continuously questioned Louise’s way of solving the mystery of the invasion, and to provide a few obstacles of obstruction to Louise.

Overall, although the character lacked depth, he still blends in very well into the plot, as he brings the plot and the character of Louise to grow as it progress through the plot. So I think it is well designed and well explored slowly through the process of the plot.