It’s commonly known that the best works of science fiction not only manage to tell a compelling story, but also offer sly commentary on the human condition and our place in the universe. There are many examples of this on film – 2001: A Space Odyssey, Blade Runner, Planet of the Apes, Children of Men – but one of my favorites has always been Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It works on both of the levels outlined above – it tells an intensely personal story of a man gripped by visions he cannot understand, while advocating for us to keep an open mind about our place in the universe.

Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival is also a first-contact tale, but one that is smartly updated for our more paranoid age. Like Alfonso Cuaron’s sci-fi masterpiece Children of Men, it poses the theory that humanity will ultimately be its own undoing. The film argues that aliens wouldn’t even have to wipe us from the universe in a blinding beam of light – they would throw us into a chaotic civil war just by showing up.

Anchoring the spectacle is Amy Adams as Dr. Louise Banks, a linguist. She makes an appealingly atypical sci-fi hero – apart from the inevitable military presence, there’s no trace of oiled-up macho action heroes in this film. Jeremy Renner and Forest Whitaker ably provide grounded and realistic performances, but make no mistake: this is Adams’ film, and to the surprise of absolutely no-one, she’s fantastic. Her ability to convey a wide range of emotions just by using her eyes is her single best trait as an actress, and she sells the audience completely on the premise. It’s one thing to show us computer-generated aliens, but it’s another feat entirely to make us believe and feel their presence. Adams manages this with ease. Ultimately this praise can be applied to all of the actors in this film, but it’s Adams that unquestionably has the hardest task here.

However, the film isn’t perfect. Some of the emotional resolution isn’t completely earned and other aspects of the plot don’t pay off as well as they could, but Arrival is nevertheless still a terrifically well-made and entertaining film. The plot is engaging and smart, and it ends with a wonderfully concealed development that plays with and deconstructs a lot of sci-fi tropes in a way that not only works in the context of the film, but will surely add incentive for those looking to watch it again.

No spoilers, I promise.

As I previously mentioned, the craft on display is stunning. Shot

beautifully by modern maestro Bradford Young (Selma, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, A Most Violent Year), the film uses contrast and shadow better than pretty much any movie I’ve seen all year. The photography fits the cerebral yet emotional storyline seamlessly, and should absolutely be a contender at the Oscars for Best Cinematography this February. It deserves to be seen on the big screen.

Additional praise should go to the impeccable directing by Denis Villeneuve, who is quickly becoming one of the most dependable filmmakers working today (Prisoners, Enemy, Sicario and the upcoming Blade Runner 2049). He has an uncanny ability to build tension while simultaneously making the audience feel like a part of the scene, and that talent certainly serves him well here. The sequence that introduces us to the aliens is shot and staged with an awe-inspiring and palpable sense of scale and dread. It almost outdoes a similar scene in the aforementioned Close Encounters of The Third Kind.

Overall, Arrival is stunningly made and acted, but it unfortunately stumbles along the way with some somewhat scattered pacing, as well as some underdeveloped emotional elements. That being said, it’s a thought-provoking and intelligent piece of science fiction, and as far as major studio-released films go, that’s something to be celebrated.