Villeneuve is allowing his viewers to go through the same process as his protagonist.
Its this ability to view the story in several different ways that makesArrivalone of Villeneuves best movies yet.
The final moments show where the story actually began and it reveals the true motivations behind the protagonist.
Similar toArrival, the pieces of the timeline begin to fall into place and everything begins to make sense.
This twist is also seen in the underrated sci-fi movie12 Monkeys.
These movies with complex timelines can be tricky to decipher but that can often lead to brilliant twist endings.
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It is a thrilling reveal even if it is not quite clear what is happening.
Based on Ted Chiang’s short story “Story of Your Life”, Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival follows Louise Banks (Amy Adams), a linguist brought in to establish a line of communication with an alien species that have recently landed on Earth. With the help of physicist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner), Banks begins to understand more of the aliens' communications, and it alters her perception of life forevermore.
