The announcement of a new Denis Villeneuve film is always a very exciting time for me. It’s impossible to press the pause button on any recent film by the Canadian director whose work includes Sicario (2015) and Prisoners (2013) – which I hold in high regard as one of the best films of the decade. He breathes a new light of hope for modern cinema as his films are the perfect blend of arthouse integrity and box office bankability.

With the strong reception his latest films have received, it comes as no surprise that someone has handed him even more cash than usual to make his latest venture Arrival, but it does come as a bit of a surprise that he’s doing a sci-fi. Always involving extremely high tension, his stories have always been deeply human and rooted deeply in reality, revolving around themes of crime, drugs, and the darker side of human nature. The trailers do show that the supernatural forces in the movie only serve to highlight humanity on a much larger scale than his usual stories.

Giant egg shaped UFO’s have materialised all over the world, housing creatures from another planet. An expert linguist (played by Amy Adams) is recruited by the military (lead by Forest Whitaker and Jeremy Renner) to enter one of the UFO’s to attempt to communicate with the beings inside and determine what their intentions are. The film also features Michael Stuhlbarg. Ordinarily, this is something I wouldn’t even consider being interested in, but based on the previous work of Denis Villeneuve, I’m sure it will be no normal Hollywood blockbuster and I’m sure it will be brilliant.

As the trailer states, Arrival is due for release in November. You can watch the trailer below.

Jeremy Renner and Amy Adams in Arrival

Forest Whitaker in Arrival