Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21860 in DVD
• Released on: 1997-06-17
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 115 minutes

Amazon.com
Calling this 1996 science fiction thriller "a glorified B movie," isn't a criticism. Writer-director David Twohy managed to get interesting material on the screen despite a limited budget, and the film is just believable enough to be satisfying as a tale of paranoid conspiracy. If you can ignore the hokey parts and accept Charlie Sheen as noted radio astronomer Zane Ziminski, you'll get thoroughly involved when the reception of an alien radio signal leads him to Mexico and to a huge underground power plant operated by aliens bent on the eventual takeover of Earth. Ron Silver is suitably chilling as the astronomer's boss, whose real identity is more horrifying than Ziminski ever imagined. The underground alien lair is memorably creepy, and Twohy's film is just smart enough to qualify as more than a guilty pleasure. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker
Writer-director David Twohy's sci-fi drama about disguised aliens taking over the planet (the plot has them building power plants that cause the poles to melt). Charlie Sheen is a radio astronomer who tracks down the invaders in order to expose them. The movie has so little going for it that the newly clean-shaven face of Ron Silver, who plays the bad guy, is more interesting than the special effects. -Bruce Diones
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

The most underrated sci-fi/thriller of the 90's
The Arrival is a little known science fiction thriller thatarrived in the early summer of 1996 a year that is much more wellknown for a little film called Independence Day. Both movies are about alien invasions, but are different in execution and style. As to where Independence Day is an action film about visuals and explosions, The Arrival focuses on paranoia, plausibility, and drawing the audience in with an intriguing and credible plot.

Zane Ziminski (Charlie Sheen) and his partner Calvin (Richard Schiff) are radio astronomers who have picked up a signal from outer space, just around a star called Wolf 336, which is 14.6 light years away from Earth. Arrival is writer David Twohy's directorial debut (his other work is Pitch Black, another great sci-fi thriller) and he does a very good job. He makes the plot quite intelligent and keeps the pace moving quickly with a riveting finale. The underlying paranoia is one of the aspects that fuels this movie along. X-Files fans should definitely enjoy this film and get a kick out of it.

Many critics seemed to think Charlie Sheen was miscast, though I find no credibility in that statement. He is superb in his role as a normal guy who gets caught up in a dangerous conspiracy. His entire performance is very believable and it's easy to feel sympathetic and root for him at the same time. The supporting performances are decent, with Teri Polo and Lindsay Cruise doing fine jobs as the women in Zane's life. Ron Silver is particularly menacing as a CEO executive of SETI and he plays his part with a lot of subtlety.

There's a lot of scientific talk in this film with many ideas thrown around and developed but it's doubtful viewers will get lost in this film's plot. It may seem confusing at first but it starts to become clear by the middle and the end.

SCI-FI AS IT SHOULD BE...
This movie was underrated when it was first released, and, as with all good, underrated movies, it has since become a cult favorite. Clever and imaginative, a lot was done on a limited budget to make it into a top notch sci-fi thriller. It has an intelligent and well reasoned story, and the special effects are imaginative.

Charlie Sheen, clean and sober, plays radio astronomer, Zane Zaminski, who picks up radio signals that are not earthly. When he takes a copy of the tape of these signals, which he believes to be indicative of intelligent, alien life, to his boss, chillingly played by Ron Silver, he is summarily fired from his job. Suddenly, all is not right with the world.

Smelling something real fishy, Zane sets up a home satellite and tries to zero in on the signal. He gets lucky, or unlucky, depending upon how one looks at it, and he picks up the same signal he previously had picked up. It crosses a signal given off by a Mexican radio station, which motivates him to go to Mexico and check it out.

While in Mexico, he meets a fellow scientist (Lindsay Crouse), who is there on her own investigation, as she has noted major atmospheric changes, which indicate that global warming is occurring at an alarming rate, almost as if there were a greenhouse effect. Unbeknownst to Zane at the time, her concerns are connected to his.

While at a power plant with her, he comes across a doppelganger for his former boss, which sets off alarms in his head. Returning undercover at night, he discovers that the entire plant is operated by aliens, and they are not here just to say hello. There, a series of events transpire to reveal to him an immense, alien plot. Yes, it's the old alien conspiracy story rearing its ugly head. Only this time, it is handled with surprising intelligence. Zane is now on a mission to convey what he knows to the world, but the aliens will stop at nothing to silence him. Will he make it? Watch the film and find out. If you love sci-fi films, you will not be disappointed.

One of my favorite sci-fi thrillers.
Released around the same time as the moronic Independence Day, it's too bad The Arrival was killed at the box office. It's truly the vastly superior film, with an intelligent plot, strong performances, adroit direction, and a lightning pace. Independence Day needed souped-up action scenes to keep the audience awake, but writer/director David Twohy holds the audience's attention with an engaging story, filled with little surprises that unfold brilliantly. I actually saw this movie before Twohy become hot property with the equally great Pitch Black, so I can tell this man is going to be one of the most sought after writer/directors in Hollywood.

The performances are stellar, with Charlie Sheen superb as the paranoid protagonist. Many felt he was miscast for some strange reason. I felt he fit the role perfectly. Teri Polo is good as the girlfriend who may be more than she seems. She's not in the movie nearly as much as Sheen, but she makes an impression with her beauty and solid performance. Ron Silver is utterly chilling as Sheen's boss, who knows more than he's saying. His underplaying of the role is a wise choice; an over-the-top performance would have been out of place.

Twohy is also impressive in creating action scenes. The chases in The Arrival are true heart-pounders, but they work so well because of the intriguing story and the vested interest we have in Sheen, who creates a truly likeable character to root for. Those who want only mindless action sequences might as well go for Independence Day, but for those looking for sharper suspense, thrills and a plot, The Arrival is the obvious choice.