Don’t expect “Independence Day” when you go see “Arrival.” Instead, expect an intellectual sci-fi drama that reflects what would truly happen if Earth was invaded by aliens.

Arrival is helmed by veteran director Denis Villeneuve, who also put together 2013’s “Prisoners” and 2015’s “Sicario,” two incredibly thrilling and dark movies. The film stars Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner, who play linguistics expert Dr. Louise Banks and theoretical physicist Ian Donnelly, respectively, who are called in by Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker) when large UFOs land across the globe to assist in the effort to communicate and interact with the mysterious beings.

That isn’t all I want to say about this movie. “Arrival” is an extremely complex, multilayered movie that can get quite confusing at times. But it is a cinematic beauty. Everything about “Arrival” works on a filmmaking level. The cinematography by Bradford Young is absolutely breathtaking; he creates incredible sweeping shots to capture how truly big this UFO is and how small we are in comparison to it. Great praise also has to be given to Adams, Renner and Whitaker for bringing their incredible performances to this film. Adams especially brings a powerful reliability to her character through moving scenes of deep self doubt and anxiety. Finally the score by Jóhann Jóhannsson is haunting and works flawlessly with every facet of the movie.

“Arrival” is a movie you won’t want to miss before this awards season rolls around, I’m sure we will be seeing it with more than a few Oscar nominations.