Arrival review - fresh and thoughtful sci-fi

When alien craft arrive, communication is key.

Arrival’s hook is a strong one: if we were ever to encounter truly alien life, how could we possibly begin to communicate with them.

There’s simply no frame of reference, no root or shared experience to draw from. Even the very way we think is likely to be so fundamentally different that it might not be possible. They might not even conceive of the concept of ‘they…’