Arrival And The Hurt Locker Essay

Arrival and The Hurt Locker are action tense and thought provoking films, dealing with war, communication, trust, stress and anxiety. Arrival, directed by Denis Villeneuve and written by Eric Heisserer, explores the story of Aliens’ first contact with humans and how humankind learns to communicate with unknown life. Louis Banks, played by Amy Adams, is a highly skilled linguistics professor brought in to interpret Alien Language for the United States Army. In doing so Louis learns of the aliens’ gift to humankind and of her future. Her and theoretical physicist Ian Donnelly, played by Jeremy Renner, rush to find out answers as to who the Aliens are and what their purpose is on earth. The Hurt Locker, directed by Kathryn Bigelow written by Mark

Each film deals with interactions with the unknown, but each have their own emotional coloring to them. Arrival’s interaction creates feelings of anticipation; they are waiting to find the answers as to why to aliens came to earth and what weapon do they intend to give the humans. The Hurt Locker builds suspense, grieving, worry and fear; as James risks his wellbeing in search of a boy’s killer in the unknown streets of Afghanistan surrounded by unknown threats. The audience is brought to the edge of their seats as the scenes unfold in front of them searching for the same answers the characters search for, but they interrupt their interactions with the unknown differently. The look for cue from the filming styles to gain a better understand of what to expect and what direction they are being lead. Both films use selective filming styles to further the audience’s enjoyment and understanding of the stories being told. The Hurt Locker and Arrival are very strong films when comparing emotional coloring and filming techniques, but they are different in what reactions they intend to invoke from their characters and