Denis Villeneuve’s 2016 science fiction film, Arrival, will leave you thinking for hours. This suspenseful, yet puzzling movie is not just any movie; it’s the kind of movie that forces even the brightest minds to strain their brains about what really happened. It is absolutely worth 116 minutes of your time.

Louise Banks (played by Amy Adams) is a linguist that is hired by the United States military to communicate with aliens and answer the big question: Why did they arrive on Planet Earth? She saves the world from complete chaos using the least expected technique: talking. The aliens’ language is different from any language on Earth and also depends on a confusing, nonlinear perception of time. Even though Dr. Banks is able to understand some symbols that they use at first, she must truly experience time the way they do to answer why they have landed on Earth. However, Dr. Banks is not the only one sent to figure out why the aliens arrived on Earth. She has a partner, a scientist named Ian Donnelly (played by Jeremy Renner) that suggests asking them to solve mathematical equations, but his idea is shot down. Dr. Banks makes steady progress on her initial attempts to communicate with the aliens but is soon overwhelmed by stress, triggering flashbacks of her child who had died of cancer in her late teens. Although these flashbacks of her child seem to disturb and distract her, Dr. Banks soon realizes that they help her figure out that the aliens have a different perception of time, which leads her to further discoveries.

While the quality of the acting is the first factor that jumps to the viewer’s attention, the special effects, costumes, and music also have an impact on how the movie is perceived. The movie starts with a narration by Louise Banks, talking about her child’s death with somber background music. The somber music fits well with the situation and causes the viewer to feel more emotional about Dr. Banks’ loss. When Dr. Banks is sent to communicate with the aliens, she is sent to a pod where the aliens appear behind what seems to be a glass wall. The pod has little to no gravity and is frigid, so Dr. Banks has to wear a hazmat suit to protect herself from the extreme temperatures. The hazmat suits they wear are very realistic and well thought-out, like everything else in the movie.

When Dr. Banks is first entering the pod to communicate with the aliens, it is difficult for the viewer to remember that it is just a special effect. It seems strikingly real and even more so when Donnelly, Dr. Banks’ partner who accompanies her to meet the aliens for the first time, stretches his arm and brushes his fingers against the top of it. Another special effect that was very well done in the movie were the spaceships flying above while Dr. Banks walked on Planet Earth. This special effect was extremely well done because, while the spaceship flies, Dr. Banks looks up, and in her eyes is the reflection of the spaceship. This makes the spaceship look very realistic and it makes it seem as if she was actually looking at it.

Arrival by Denis Villeneuve is amazing, unique, and downright confusing. Arrival will cause viewers to strain their brains on what happened but will also give them the excitement of doing so. This once-in-a-lifetime kind of movie is a must-see.