amy adams | Joy Reviews Movies

I don’t really know where to start with Nocturnal Animals. I just have a lot of feelings about it and none of them are all that positive! I went into this film intrigued by the plot summary provided by the Google Play Store and I came out so thoroughly disappointed. I hadn’t (and still haven’t) seen his other film A Single Man (2009), but I really don’t think I’m that excited to ever see it.

Nocturnal Animals is a very stylish film, but really, I feel like that’s where the compliments end. It was all style and so little substance? The story-within-the-story was more interesting than the overall story and even then, I don’t think it was enough to pull its own weight… as in, I don’t think it could have stood on its own. I think that, more than anything, I was expecting a thriller and what I got was… a bore. It was only 2 hours long, but it felt like 4. That’s never a good sign. I was left saying, “Thank god that’s over,” and feeling a wave of relief combined with absolute bafflement at the ending, or lack thereof. It felt like Tom Ford was like, “I really don’t have any idea how to end this film… so I won’t.” And then he subsequently does not. You spend the whole time waiting for some kind of ultimate pay-off after this pretentious, gruelling two-hour spectacle only to be letdown. SPOILER ALERT: Amy Adams gets stood up. That’s her ex-husband’s big revenge. That’s the big finale. The Big Finish.

Even with A+ performances from Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Shannon and Aaron Taylor-Johnson (etc. but those were the ones that stood out the most for me), it’s just not enough. It leaves you feeling like you’ve just watched some film student’s incomplete project. I just felt depressed.

Most of the reviews I have glanced over have mentioned something about it being a film that “makes you think,” but all it made me think was that I should have spent the last 2 hours of my life watching something more enjoyable. Like paint drying, perhaps, or maybe grass growing.

I mean, maybe there’s something I’m totally missing, but I can see where it was trying to go: fantasy revenge is awesome, reality revenge is chickening out and being totally petty; “You killed my child so I’m going to write a book about how your actions totally wounded me…” But it just fell so flat for me. It’s definitely not something I’d go so far as to recommend or to watch again, and I certainly won’t be adding it to my collection.

Arrival may be comprised of many alien movie cliches, but it itself was not your average creature feature. It’s not for someone who’s looking for a modern-day War of the Worlds or the next Independence Day. It is emotional and, at times, visceral. I was not prepared for the number of times I would shed a tear or two (or many more) during this 116 minute long Denis Villeneuve film. I hesitate to compare films, but I feel strongly that 2014’s Interstellar surpassed Arrival by quite a bit. Having said that, it is it’s own film and I was truly impressed.

We open to Amy Adams, a linguist and a professor, reminiscing on her life and her understanding of the linearity (or lack thereof) of time. We learn that she has lost her daughter to a rare form of (probably) cancer at a pretty young age. We’re quickly whisked away into a new world where Amy Adams’ character is suddenly part of a high-level team trying to crack an alien language being spoken by aliens who have landed in vessels parked in 12 locations around the world. We learn pretty early on that she’s very good at her job and that she has previously translated things for the government. Arrival also stars Jeremy Renner and Forest Whitaker, which was kind of a letdown for me. I find that Forest Whitaker only ever plays… well… Forest Whitaker. Forest Whitaker is playing Forest Whitaker AS lieutenant Jon Kavanaugh (The Shield), Forest Whitaker AS Major Collins (Bodysnatchers), Forest Whitaker AS Colonel Weber (Arrival)… he only has one character and that tends to take me right out of any role he plays. And that… is pretty much my only complaint about the cast or the acting. Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner were fantastic – phenomenal even.

There were a few plot points that kind of didn’t gel with me… I don’t want to speak them aloud because that would spoil the film, but they’re pretty big, gaping holes, so from that point of view, I was kind of like, meh. But the film was beautiful. I felt empathy for the aliens, even, which you can’t expect out of most alien films which demonize the visitors.

All in all, this is a film I will probably buy on Bluray and watch when I’m feeling like something cerebral and touchy-feely… I really enjoyed it and think it’s definitely worth a watch or two!

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Nocturnal Animals

Arrival (2016)