Arrival

At the beginning of this chilly sci-fi drama, 12 alien spacecraft appear in various countries around the world. Why are they here? What do they want? In order to answer these questions, the American military recruits Dr Louise Banks (Amy Adams), a renowned linguistics professor who has done some translating for them in the past. Teamed with a theoretical physicist (Jeremy Renner), she is asked to decipher the strange language that the aliens use. As she gets to work, the story unfolds in a gradual, unhurried manner, building towards a game-changing development that might be hard to swallow for some viewers. For the most part, though, Arrival is a grounded, impressively crafted film that makes you feel as though you are right there with the characters. It's no action-drenched Independence Day, but if you like cerebral sci-fi movies that are driven by ideas, you're in for a treat.