The Arrival [Blu-ray]

Director: David Twohy, Denis Villeneuve David Twohy

Overview

A shy radio telescope operator named Zane Ziminski (Charlie Sheen) picks up a series of regular signals coming from space -- and deliberately pointed toward Earth. Convinced that he has discovered alien transmissions, Ziminski is first chastised and then fired by his boss (Ron Silver). Obsessed, he builds a makeshift radio telescope in his house to find out where the signals were sent. Convinced that they're intended for aliens already hidden on Earth, he tracks them to a bleak, isolated Mexican village, where he joins forces with a female scientist (Lindsay Crouse), who has suspicions of her own after witnessing an acceleration of global warming. The villagers turn out to be aliens, and the village a front for an underground alien complex. The aliens are here to "terraform" Earth and prepare it for the arrival of the rest of their race, who will die unless they leave their homeworld and colonize elsewhere. Only Ziminski can stop them. Written and directed by David N. Twohy, The Arrival is a throwback to the genre chillers of the '50s.

Product Details

Release Date:	04/21/2009
UPC:	0012236103073
Original Release:	1996
Rating:	PG-13
Source:	LIONSGATE - 600000-AEC LGE
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Language:	English
Time:	1:55:00
Sales rank:	16,927

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Charlie Sheen	Zane Zaminski
Ron Silver	Phil Gordian
Lindsay Crouse	Ilana Green
Tony T. Johnson	Kiki,maintenance man
Teri Polo	Char
Richard Schiff	Calvin
Shane	JPL Guard
Phyllis Applegate	Mrs. Roosevelt
Alan Coates	Tarraformer
Leon Rippy	DOD No. 1
Buddy Joe Hooker	DOD No. 2
Javier Morga	Co-worker
Catalina Botello	N.C.A.R. Woman
Georg Lillitsch	Computer Tech
Luísa Huertas	security woman
Mónica Dionne	reporter
Alejandro Usigli	reporter
Andrea Sisniega	weather woman
David Villalpando	Actor
David Sherrill	Actor
Darin Cooper	Actor
José Garcia	planecorp guard
Ángel de la Peña	Actor
Jeremy Renner	Actor
Forest Whitaker	Actor
Michael Stuhlbarg	Actor
Arthur Kempel	Conductor,Composer
Tzi Ma	Actor
Nathaly Thibault	Actor
Joe Cobden	Actor
Julian Casey	Actor
Russell Yuen	Actor
Andrew Shaver	Actor
Abigail Pniowsky	Actor
Philippe Hartmann	Actor
David Zucker	Actor
María Luisa Coronel	Maid
Ellen Bradley	Screaming Woman
Jorge Becerril	Planecorp Guard
Jorge Zepeda	Detective
Roger Cudney	JPL Official
Jacqueline Voltaire	Reporter #3
Dave Galasso	JPL Guard #2

Technical Credits

David Twohy

David Twohy	Director,Screenwriter
Eddie Braun	Stunts
Steven Brooksbank	Casting
Robert W. Cort	Executive Producer,Producer
Robin D'Arcy	Special Effects
Ted Field	Executive Producer,Producer
Charles L. Finance	Special Effects
Buddy Joe Hooker	Stunts
Mary Jo Slater	Casting
Thomas G. Smith	Producer
Jim Steele	Producer
Denis Villeneuve	Director
Sandina Bailo-Lape	Sound Effects
Fernando Cámara	Sound Effects
Mark Galvin	Executive Producer

Editorial Reviews

In his sophomore directorial effort, screenwriter David Twohy creates yet another underrated, inventive science fiction adventure, one of the very few solid films for star Charlie Sheen in the 1990s. Twohy has a lot of fun with the conventions of his genre, spinning old saws such as alien invasion, terraforming, and the obligatory protagonist paranoia into new and intelligent directions. Okay, global warming isn't all that fresh but it's more contemporary than, say, the aliens need to deplete Earth's undefined "resources," the hackneyed premise of both Independence Day (1996) and Battlefield Earth (2000) (what, the alien home worlds in those films ran out of water, beef, and coal?). If Sheen is a miscast as a tech wizard (other actors better at playing smart and available on limited budgets having been presumably unavailable), the rest of the cast is pretty sharp. Teri Polo provides her usual workmanlike performance as the supportive, attractive love interest with a twist and oily Ron Silver is typically loathsome as an up-to-no-good villain. The film's effects, while limited, are decent, while the tight script, no-frills direction, and briskly edited pace keep things moving along fast enough that one barely notices this sturdy thriller seems to have been produced on a made-for-TV budget. The Arrival (1996) might not be the biggest sci-fi spectacle of its year, having been trampled in the Independence Day onslaught, but like most of Twohy's other behind-the-camera projects, it earns the shelf-life respect it's garnering on video and cable.

All Movie Guide - Karl Williams