Netflix has just added one of the best sci-fi movies of the 21st century

Simon Kelly

It’s got a 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Netflix has had a great start to April, adding some incredible movies and shows to its back catalogue, including a gritty, star-studded war film.

Also among the new additions is one of the best sci-fi movies of the 21st century – Arrival.

Helmed by Dune director Denis Villeneuve, Arrival stars Amy Adams as a linguist, who is enlisted by the United States Army to attempt to communicate with extraterrestrials who have arrived on Earth.

Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker, and Michael Stuhlbarg flesh out the supporting cast in this 2016 flick, which, for a movie about aliens, manages to be deeply personal and emotional.

A sci-fi thriller in name only, Arrival focuses more on the existential issues of communicating with an alien species and how the world would react to such an event.

Critically lauded upon its release in 2016, Arrival holds an impressive 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and has been compared to a Steven Spielberg movie in how he approaches the sci-fi genre.

Praise was particularly held for the movie’s beautiful visuals, its important messages around communication and the off-kilter score from Jóhann Jóhannsson, one of his last before his untimely passing in 2018.

Arrival: Netflix has added one of the best sci-fi movies of the 21st century.

If you’re still unsure it’s worth your time, you can check out some of the reviews for Arrival below.

BBC – “With Arrival, Villeneuve finally finds a subject, and a script, whose magnitude matches the weight he assigns to it. All it took was an alien species’ appearance on Earth.”

Rolling Stone – “Amy Adams is a miracle worker – she makes us believe in this mesmerizing mindbender about alien communication, directed with searching mind and heart by Denis Villeneuve.”

New York Post – “Arrival makes a moving case that we’ve only scratched the surface of what we think is possible – and what we define as intelligence.”

Empire Magazine – “Arrival is Villeneuve’s The Day The Earth Stood Still or Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, and somehow he makes it true to the tropes while also feeling like something new.”

Some other great movies added to Netflix in recent days include Emily the Criminal, Fury and The Martian.

Also coming to the streamer in April are some really exciting movie additions, including In the Land of Saints and Sinners which features an all-star Irish cast, Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver, and Scoop.