Arrival (2016)

Arrival is a 2016 American science fiction film directed by Denis Villeneuve and adapted by Eric Heisserer from the 1998 short story and novella "Story of Your Life" by Ted Chiang. It stars Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, and Forest Whitaker.^[4]

Arrival had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 1, 2016, and was released in the United States and Canada on November 11, 2016, in IMAX by Paramount Pictures. The film has grossed more than $196 million worldwide and the storyline, atmosphere, and Adams's performance were all praised. The American Film Institute selected it as one of its ten Movies of the Year,^[5] and it was nominated for numerous awards, among them eight for the 89th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay, winning one for Best Sound Editing. It also received Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress for Adams and Best Original Score

In what appears to be a flashback, linguist Louise Banks is caring for her adolescent daughter, who dies of cancer.^[7] While she is lecturing at a university, twelve extraterrestrial spacecraft appear across the Earth. U.S. ArmyColonel Weber asks Louise to join Los Alamos National Laboratory physicist Ian Donnelly to decipher their language and find out why they have arrived. The team is brought to a military camp in Montana near one of the spacecraft, and makes contact with two seven-limbed aliens on board. They call the extraterrestrials "heptapods", and Ian nicknames them Abbott and Costello. Louise discovers that they have a written language of complicated circular symbols, and she begins to learn the symbols that correspond to a basic vocabulary. As she becomes more proficient, she starts to see and dream vivid images of herself with her daughter, and of their relationship with the father.

When Louise asks what the aliens want, they answer: "offer weapon". A similar translation of "use weapon" is made by one of the other sites. Fear of a potential threat from the aliens leads other nations to close down communication on the project, and some prepare for an attack. However, Louise argues that the symbol interpreted as "weapon" might have an alternative translation, such as "tool" or "technology".

Rogue U.S. soldiers plant explosives in the spacecraft. Unaware, Louise and Ian re-enter. The aliens give them a much larger and more complex message. Abbott ejects Ian and Louise from the craft as the explosion occurs, which leaves them unconscious. When Louise and Ian come round, the military prepares to evacuate, and the spacecraft moves higher above the ground. Ian works out that the symbols relate to the concept of time, and that the message is one-twelfth of the whole "gift". They conclude that the aliens must want nations to cooperate.

Meanwhile, China notifies the world that its military is planning to attack the spacecraft off its coast. Louise rushes back to the spacecraft in Montana, which sends down a shuttle to take her inside. She meets Costello, who communicates that Abbott is dying. Louise asks about her visions of a daughter, and Costello explains that she is seeing the future (revealing that her "visions" were not flashbacks but flashforwards). Costello also communicates that they have come to help humanity by sharing their language, which is the "weapon" or "tool" because it changes perception of time. The aliens know that 3000 years into the future they will need humanity's help in return.

Louise returns as the camp is being evacuated. She has a vision of herself at a future United Nations reception, being thanked by General Shang for convincing him to suspend China's military attack. He explains that she had called his private mobile telephone. He shows her its number, which he says he knows he must do without understanding why. In the present, Louise steals a satellite phone and calls Shang, but realizes she does not know what to say. Her vision continues with Shang explaining that she had convinced him by repeating his wife's last words in Mandarin, which he tells Louise.^{[nb 1]} This convinces Shang in present time, and the Chinese attack is called off and the other nations resume contact with each other. The twelve spacecraft then disappear from Earth.

When packing to leave the camp, Ian admits his love for Louise. They discuss life choices, and whether they would change them if they knew the future. Louise foresees that Ian will father her daughter Hannah, whose name is an intentional palindrome, but will leave her after discovering that she knew their daughter would die before adulthood. Nevertheless, when Ian asks Louise if she wants to have a baby, she agrees.