Category: reviews

Film review: Arrival

Okay, I can’t really say too much about this film, other than go see it. Arrival is a slow-burning Sci-fi flick about twelve vast alien ships that  appear from nowhere. The job of learning the aliens’ complex language falls to a young linguist with attachment issues and a theoretical physicist who believes the problem of communication with minds so different from our own can be solved through mathematics. The answer is halfway between, with a little ingenuity and intuition thrown in for good measure.

arrival.jpg

This is thinking Science-Fiction, a bit like Interstellar. The script is sparse, very much pared to bone actually, which is odd when you think about it because this film is very much about language and what it can reveal about the universe around us. The acting is superbly understated with Amy Adams and Forest Whitaker delivering creditable performances, and Jeremy Renner proving he’s more than just a superhero bowman.

I loved it. One of these films tha leaves you thinking for days after, and wanting to see it again just in case there’s something you missed.

If you only like your sci-fi with gunfights and star battles then Arrival is probably not for you. But if you’re looking for a killer, thought-provoking story with a little excitement along the way  then it’s most definitely worth a punt.

Easily ten out of ten.

Weirdly wonderful Netflix discovery: Attack on Titan

Sometimes the best thing to do with Netflix is just  follow the suggestions. Do this when you’ve got a free afternoon and you might chance upon a rare gem, like Attack On Titan.

aot_ps4.jpg

Set in the future, or maybe the past, on this Earth, or maybe another one, Attack of the Titans tells of a human race under seige from strange  near-immortal giants with a taste for human flesh. The giants (which the hapless humans refer to as Titans) have decimated the population and forced the survivors inside a cluster of cities  zoned and protected by three concentric walls.

Pretty much as expected, the human race is mounting a desperate fight back. An army of young soldiers armed with swords and grappling hooks are humanity’s last line of defence …

It’s classic Manga. the animation is nothing to write home about, but it still manages to pull of some scarily breath-taking action sequences; the subtitles and information pages flash by with barely enough time to read them (I dunno why the Japanese always seem in such a hurry), and there is an awful lot of shouting. And it’s really quire gory too. Our heroes are regularly eaten alive and then vomitted out some time later because the Titans, inexplicably, have no digestive tract.

I watched Season 1, about 25 episodes, in four days, and I’m looking forward to the next series which is just around the corner.

I’d recommend watching Attack on Titan if you’re a fan of the genre; though I suppose if you are a fan of the genre, you’ll have seen it already.

Eight out of ten.