The first trailer for Arrival promises big things

Before he gets down to work on a sequel to Ridley Scott’s Bladerunner, director Denis Villeneuve (Sicario, Prisoners) is looking to make a sci-fi sized statement of his own with Arrival.

The premise is pretty much that: when an alien ship looking like an expensive lamp lands on earth, triggering panic among earth folk, Amy Adams' (remarkably calm) linguist and Jeremy Renner’s smooth-talking physicist find themselves called upon the US government, and Forest Whitaker’s military sort, to ‘make contact’ with the new visitors.

Not a million miles from the otherworldly indie aesthetic of recent sleeper hit Midnight Special, expect slow, creeping tension and a sombre study of human behaviour in the face of extraordinary circumstances, as opposed to the popcorn proceedings of Independence Day.

In other words, landmarks may just stay intact.

Arrival arrives in cinemas in cinemas 11 November