The first thing you’ll notice, of course, is how smart the film is. Unlike in movies like this year’s terrible Independence Day Resurgence there is a very real depiction of how the world would react if aliens did show up at our doorstep. It’s also nice to see characters that don’t make stupid decisions when things don’t go according to plan.

For far too long, Hollywood blockbusters have waged war against the extra terrestrial, using it as the perfect excuse to unite a fragmented world. Arrival challenges that notion and asks us to look within.

This is undoubtedly Adam’s movie from start to finish, but if you’re counting on the film being carried only by the acting, then you’ve got the wrong idea. The film is nuanced and detailed and goes above and beyond what other science-fiction films have done. It has a revelation at the end that is both shocking and moving.