SCIENCE fiction films fall broadly into two distinct groups, categories that are not always a sign of the quality of the films within them, writes Jason Day.

There is the big budget, loud, flashy, special effects-heavy world of your Star Wars and Star Treks where humanity fights the evils of a multitude of intergalactic forces.

And then there is the quieter, thinking person's sci-fi, where humanity questions its place in the cosmos, what it is to be 'human' or seeks answers to other existential crises, your 2001: A Space Odyssey. Arrival definitely belongs in the latter category and is one of the finest examples of it, if not one of the best films of 2016.

Amy Adams is superb as the languages expert enlisted to help the US government decipher messages sent by alien spacecraft situated in various territories around the world.

At once vague and seemingly emotionally fragile, she is also assertive, open-minded and diplomatic - a born communicator, the film's core theme.

There is already Oscar buzz; with five previous nominations, she may scoop it for this clever, inquisitive but clear and humble piece.

It is showing at: Vue Redditch, Empire Birmingham Great Park and selected Odeon and Cineworld cinemas across the West Midlands.