The Arrival

• Written and Directed by David Twohy
• May 31, 1995

A radio astronomer discovers evidence of intelligent alien life and finds himself in the middle of a conspiracy.

Many alien invasion films feature aliens attacking in ships raining devastation down upon the world. Then there are the quieter ones like The Arrival that rely on conspiracy and infiltration to create a level of paranoia to propel the story in a way that makes events significant but the narrative able to be told in a more cost-effective way. David Twohy, who would become better known for directing the classic Pitch Black offers up a sci-fi film where anybody and everybody can be involved as aliens.

Charlie Sheen stars as radio astronomer Zane Zaminsky which is possibly the most comic book name you will ever encounter. He along with his partner come across a signal that is alien in nature but appears terrestrial in origin. From there his life begins to unravel. While not credible as a scientist (they wisely avoid heavy technical jargon for him) Sheen is good as an individual driven to prove himself right.

Our main villain is Zane’s boss at NASA’s JPL Phil “Gordi” Gordian (Ron Silver). He is more an evil executive than a baddie trying to wipe out humanity. Cold and almost indifferent to Zane’s efforts, he treats Zane as largely a nuisance until it becomes clear that his efforts are only adding fuel to the fire.

The story takes global warming and turns it into an evil alien plot to terraform Earth into a planet habitable for the unnamed invaders. Maybe a message about unbridled technological advancement? Not sure but it is a unique twist.

With plenty of misdirection and a few red herrings like Zane’s girlfriend Char (Teri Polo) who appears to be an alien but is not, this uses brains to movie things along and with the idea that these aliens can look just like humans covers sudden reveals of alien nature easily. Most often though it lays out clues that are not strongly overt but subtle enough that they could go either way.

The Arrival’s major drawback is the limitations of the CGI of the time. The aliens were accomplished in their natural form exclusively with computer graphics and they have seriously not aged well. But I remember when I first saw it, I was not too impressed with them then either. They look like superior game graphics of any era but not real. Prosthetics or puppetry with MINIMAL CGI would have been better.

Because this film is ultimately done on the cheap stuff does not always look good. Some of the visuals are flat and some of the sets look like they were borrowed and spiffed up from some TV show. Having said that the story itself is well done and engages you. With its focus on good pacing and story this movie’s nearly two hours does not lag.

I don’t pretend that the science used is 100% accurate or even based in reality. However they do a good job of creating a logical fictional world with believable sounding scientific jargon to an alien plan. You can believe what they are trying to do is possible.

And it takes a different approach to the conclusion than most movies would. The film does not end with the hero saving the day but only setting the stage for a road to victory. Probably due to budgetary limitations but it also makes more sense than Charlie Sheen singlehandedly taking down a vast conspiracy. Even then that would be a tough sell. Today it would be laughable to see Charlie “Tiger Blood” Sheen do it.

It’s sad that The Arrival got ignored and is still largely ignored to this day. The Arrival is a great execution of the alien invasion premise. Be it streaming or physical media you should check it out. You will not be disappointed!