The movie Arrival, released November 11, 2016, was a hit science fiction movie in the theaters. Amy Adams plays a linguistics professor named Louise Banks, who leads an elite team of investigators when gigantic spaceships touch down in 12 locations around the world. As nations teeter on the verge of global war, Banks and her crew must race against time to find a way to communicate with the extraterrestrial visitors. Hoping to unravel the mystery, she takes a chance that could threaten her life and quite possibly all of mankind. The sci-fi film, directed by Dennis Villeneuve and written by Eric Heisserer, included stars, aside from Adams such as Jeremy Renner as Ian Donnelly, a military theoretical physicist, and Forest Whitaker as Colonel GT Weber, a senior US military officer. As of December 4, 2016, the film has grossed at $73.1 million in the United States and Canada, and $32.2 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $105.2 million.

Arrival mainly received positive reviews from the critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 93%, passing movies such as Doctor Strange, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and also Trolls, based on 258 reviews, with an average rating of 8.4/10. The site’s critical review reads, Arrival delivers a must-see experience for fans of thinking person’s sci-fi that anchors its heady themes with genuinely affecting emotion and a terrific performance from Amy Adams” (rottentomatoes.com). At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average to reviews, the film has a score of 81 out of 100, based on 52 critics, indicating “universal acclaim.” Brian Tallerico, from RogerEbert.com, gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, saying “It’s a movie designed to simultaneously challenge viewers, move them and get them talking. For the most part, it succeeds.” British film critic Robbie Collin gave it a five out of five, calling it “introspective, philosophical and existentially inclined, yet it unfolds in an unwavering tenor of chest tightening excitement. And there is a-mid film revelation, less a sudden twist than sleek unwinding of everything you think you know, that feels, when it hits you, like your seat is tipping back.

Sal Martinez (10) said, “After seeing Arrival, it is now one of my favorite sci-fi movies now. I really enjoyed how it made me think.” The film has since received many nominations, some of which include a Camerimage award for best cinematography, a Critics’ Choice Award for over ten categories, and a National Board of Review award for best actress and being one of the top ten films. Other movies that are related to Arrival that viewers may be interested in are The Martian, Interstellar, and Gravity.