‘Arrival’ only needed one more draft to become a classic

In "Arrival," world-renowned linguist professor Louise Banks (played by Amy Adams) is asked by her daughter for a word that that means "an outcome in which both sides of a conflict walk away successful." She responds with "win-win," a completely vapid, boardroom-born piece of jargon (the word "win" implies competition in which someone must "lose," thus rendering the term meaningless). 
 
Sure, this may seem like an inconsequential nitpick, but it's a window to the core of "Arrival's" frustrating conundrum. At times gorgeous, haunting and fleetingly contemplative, it's a slice of sci-fi whose script feels in need of one more draft to become a classic. 
 
As it stands, it only flirts with greatness, tossing logic aside for convenience and undermining its more magical moments. It's like carefully constructing a poem and sticking a limerick in the third stanza. 
 
In an era in which we are treated to such thoughtful, meditative features as "Gravity," "Interstellar," and "The Martian," director Denis Villeneuva's "Arrival" cuts corners when it needs to elaborate and ultimately comes up just shy of the enduring classic it aspires to be. These films are not perfect, but all shared a sense of intellectual curiosity that "Arrival" abandons as soon as it delivers. 
 
A dozen crescent-shaped spaceships are hovering over various parts of the planet, and Banks is quickly visited by Col. Weber (played by a wonderfully understated Forest Whitaker), who seeks her assistance in communicating with the inhabitants inside one drifting over a picturesque Montana mountainside.  
 
Also along for the ride is theoretical physicist Ian Donnelly (played by Jeremy Renner, channeling a less-eccentric Jeff Goldblum from "Jurassic Park"). 
 
They have been granted access to the ship by the aliens in an attempt to communicate their intentions.  
 
Banks races to connect the complex cosmic conversations while also being haunted by images of her daughter, who died at a young age of a strange illness. 
 
Their mission is expedited by the fact that a Chinese dictator views the pod floating over his country as hostile and begins to mount an attack to destroy it. And the film's internal clock ticks loudly as it accelerates toward its conclusion. Despite Renner's lightweight contribution, the cast is uniformly superb. Also, the score from Jóhann Jóhannsson is eccentrically melancholic and the cinematography is, at times, stunning to behold. 
 
It does not rely on an overabundance of CGI, but seems more interested in exploring connectivity in ways that feel as though it's mounting toward a revelatory conclusion. But like a sneeze that never comes, it's all build-up, but no release. Just like when Professor Banks cracks the code and halts the whole mission to clarify whether an alien word means "tool" or "weapon," but gives her beloved daughter such an empty phrase as "win-win," its third-act narrative "reveal" feels like a brush-off. 
 
It's not a complete deal-breaker, as there is much to admire within "Arrival." It's just a shame that it doesn't have the conviction to explore some of the deeper issues it raises for narrative convenience. It's not a complete "win-win" for the audience, but it is a welcome relief from the typical bombast that accompanies an earthly alien invasion.