The new trailer for Arrival, from Canadian filmmaker Denis Villeneuve, has, well, arrived.
The movie stars Amy Adams as Dr. Louise Banks, a language specialist, goofily cited by Forest Whitaker’s largely unseen military heavy as “the top of everyone’s list when it comes to translations.” She’s recruited to establish first contact with a mysterious just-landed alien species. The cast is rounded out by dude-in-every-film-these-days Jeremy Renner, a mathematician who believes Banks’s linguistic skills are the key to figuring out whether the aliens come in peace – or not.
Judging by the trailer, it’s not the aliens we have to worry about, though: Toward the end of the trailer, we see Adams enter a gigantic alien spaceship that looks like a massive stone egg. Then it flies away. Whitaker is left asking, “Why does this feel worse?”
In attempting to communicate with aliens, countries of the world — we learn that the giant eggs have landed in 12 locations across the globe — have, naturally, resorted to fighting among themselves. We also learn that Russia executed one of its own intelligence officers to keep secret information its learned. Basically, World War III might break out at any moment, while these mysterious alien eggs peacefully sit on Earth.
“It’s possible they’re prodding us to fight among ourselves,” says Michael Stuhlbarg’s government stooge character. Adams is a bit more optimistic: “This is just a way to get us to work together for once,” she says.
Looks fun! Watch the trailer below:
[Villeneuve’s latest]((https://www.inverse.com/article/6320-how-sicario-fits-into-2015-s-story-of-the-cartel) — loosely based on author Ted Chiang’s sci-fi short story titled Story of Your Life — looks to be the same kind of speculative alien intelligence slow-burn extravaganza à la Contact, only with more explosions. Here’s hoping the aliens in this movie aren’t just projections of a character’s father at the end (sorry about the Contact spoilers, but we just saved you two hours of your life).
The film’s November release date puts it in curious awards season territory, and knowing Adams’s acting chops, it might make for a perfect Best Actress opportunity. It also seems like the perfect chance to make linguists cool, somehow.
Check out the official synopsis:
“When mysterious spacecrafts touch down across the globe, an elite team - lead by expert linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams) - is brought together to investigate. As mankind teeters on the verge of global war, Banks and the team race against time for answers – and to find them, she will take a chance that could threaten her life, and quite possibly humanity.”
Villeneuve’s Arrival hits theaters on November 11.
