The Arrival | 
| Director: David Twohy
Actors: Charlie Sheen, Lindsay Crouse, Richard Schiff, Shane (ii), Ron Silver
Studio: Live / Artisan
Category: DVD
Buy New: $22.99
New (2) Used (9) from $5.98
Rating:  46 reviews
Sales Rank: 25159
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dvd, Full Screen, Letterboxed, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
DVD Layers: 1
DVD Sides: 2
Picture Format: Array
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 109 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
ISBN: 6304490054
UPC: 012236044604
EAN: 9780784010235
ASIN: 6304490054
Theatrical Release Date: May 31, 1996
Release Date: June 17, 1997
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
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
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| Customer Reviews: Read 41 more reviews...
Humor Made This Sci-Fi Work May 8, 2009
Craig Connell (Lockport, NY USA)
This aliens vs. earth film succeeded because it added humor to the suspense story and Charlie Sheen did a great job adding to that with an expression-filled face that made he and this film fun to watch.
Story-wise, most of it made no sense as Sheen got out of one impossible scrap after another but good sci-fi special effects and suspense helped make the story interesting and fast-moving. You get caught up in the story and don't care if their are plenty of holes in it. It's also pretty tame, language-wise. Lindsay Crouse provides the female interest and Ron Silver the villain.
The film was popular enough to make a sequel, but that was horrible. Stick with this film and don't waste your time on that one.
 Aliens, not hair spray, are the cause of Global Warming! (3.5 stars) April 22, 2009
M. B Cole (Las Vegas, NV)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Zane Zaminsky (Charlie Sheen), an astronomer, is at work one day scanning the solar system with his co-worker and friend Calvin (Richard Schiff) when they come across an unidentified signal that is being sent to Earth, not from Earth. Excited that they might have come across extraterrestrial contact, they rush to their boss, who quickly fires Zane because they are 'downsizing' and cutting back employees. Baffled because he's considered one of the best in his field, begins to think something is just not right. So he creates his own scanner in his back yard garage, and comes across the same frequency again one night, but this time it's being sent from Earth, not from outer space. With a little research he finds out that the signal was sent from Mexico, and with that information, he quickly makes his way there to investigate. What he finds though is not quite what he was expecting. Now that paranoia from what's he's witnessed has set in, there is no one that he can trust. Alone, he must get enough evidence to expose the truth to what is going on, before it's to late for the human race.
The story of 'The Arrival' is what really drives this movie. The conspiracies, the paranoia, the subtle evil plan. When I saw this in theaters, I remember everything being just right. But now, some 12 years later, not everything is perfect like I remember. What really brings the movie down for me is the action scenes. Most of them just seem so corny. And the CG just isn't as good as say 'Independence Day' which was released around the same time. I wish the movie had been extremely more of a story driven drama than an action/sci-fi. Even Charlie Sheen was pretty good and believable as an astronomer. I loved when he just walked into a conference looking for his boss after he found out a lot of information going on. The man looked like he had been to hell and back.
In the end, if you can deal with some hokey action, then this is a definite watch if you like a good 'alien' story. I almost want to give it 4 stars, but just cant because of the goofy action scenes.
P.S. Right at the beginning of the movie you see a scene where maybe a football field size of grass was growing... at the North Pole. My friend said that that couldn't happen since the North Pole is nothing but water and ice. There is no actual soil there. Is this true? I'm to lazy to look it up.
 Dave and Arrival dvds good, Four Feathers Very bad. April 3, 2009
Gerald M. Grega (Fl.)
Amazon, you need to apply pressure to (dvdlegacy) for merchandise
that is not delivered.
I was a happy custimer up till now.
jcjgrega@embarqmail.com
Great Special Effects!! Disappointed with the Ending Though. March 3, 2009
Daquan13 (East Boston, MA.)
WHAT'S THE 411 ON THIS MOVIE?
I'm an avid fan of sch-fi /horror movies and TV shows! I just caught wind of this movie not too long ago, and wanted to see it, since I haven't seen it at the time. I just happened to watch it last night.
Since I have a huge collection of sco-fi movies that date back to the early '50s, I thought well, one more sci-fi film wouldn't hurt. I find this film to be reminiscent of the old '50s classic Invation of the Body Snatchers as well as both '70s films Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Polderguiest where aliens decend on earth to try to take over the population and disguise themselves as normal human beings!
WHAT IS THE STORY LINE?
The story line begins with Charlie Sheen (from the TV sitom Two and a Half Men) playing radio astronmer Zane Zaminsky who has a ton of radio / satelite equipment and believes that he's picked up cosmic noises that signal the possibility of extra terrestrial intelligence. He investigates further to make sure that his findings are accurate.
He then turns the tape over to his boss Phil Gordian (played by Ron Silver) who then fires him. He demands it back, but he doesn't get it back. His girlfriend (Teri Polo) gets transfered and his partner is found dead from a supposed suicide. And after being denied access to the labratory grounds, Zane breaks through the securiy cofinements of the place with his truck anyway to try to do some investigating of his own. After finding out what he wants to know, he heads back to the house to do some more reseach. Strange noises coming from his window has him suspecting that he's being watched. He is startled by someone making a little noise outside! It's Kiki who has been spying on him!
Enter Kiki; an Afro-American street-wise smart-mouth 13-year-old boy who is making smirky remarks and lives next door (played by Tony T. Johnson, who also was the nosey getting-into-everyone's- business, asking-nosey- questions smart-mouthed smirky-comment-spewing little boy Chris who lives next door to Deacon Earnest Frye in the TV sitcom Amen). After being told by Zane to wait downstairs, Kiki somehow sneaks upstairs to the lab room and wants to know what's going on and why Zane is so wrapped up in his research on the possibility that aliens may be invading Earth. So when Kiki bombards Zane with a mountain of questions, Zane has no choice but to let the always nosey and curious but crazy and friendly Kiki work with him for a while because he was afraid that Kiki might blow his cover.
Zane's desparate search for answers leads him to Mexico and into a mysterious power plant, generating more than just electricity and is run by people who are not what they appear to be. He then gets arrested for the murder of a scientist (Lindsay Crouse) while investigating an impending ecological disaster.
Back at home, Zane finds out that his lab room in the attic has been mysteriously robbed of his equipment and happens to see Kiki again. He and his female assistant goes back over to the huge satelite dish with Kiki in tow behind them.
Zane learns the sad truth about Kiki having become an alien when Kiki stares at him mysteriously,then he stops trying to help him and gives the tape to Phil instead.
When they are attacked by the people disguised as aliens, the lab there begins to self-destruct and the giant satelite dish begins to callapse seemingly with Zane and his assistant trying to run for their lives!
There's a shot of Kiki from behind standing outside watching. As they manage to escape the collapsing satelite dish, they notice Kiki staring at then again. Angered and disappointed because Kiki turned his back on him on him, Zane gives him a message to take back to the other aliens. Kiki then bends his knees and hips backward (into his alien configuration) and then he runs off into the surrounding dessert.
Can they save earth from being taken over by these hostile alians? Who will rise and who will fall? Who's mind will be poison and taken over by the aliens?
Tony T. Johnson adds a bit of eccentric humor and comedy to the movie with his street-smart talking and smirky remarks. Just about ALL of his roles in TV and films has him making sarcastic smirky remarks and belittling,treating adults as though he's more superior to them than they are!!
Not particularly fond of the ending though. Would have given the film 5 stars if not for the unhappy ending. I was very disappointed with the way that it turned out, but at least no one else was killed. But I'll let YOU decide.
~Daquan13.
The Invasion October 4, 2008
Bob (Divided States)
The THE ARRIVAL is to my mind the perfect loony space alien conspiracy flick. This film just works. It's in a space somewhere between pure camp and serious sci-fi drama.
Charlie Sheen is very entertaining and believable as a radio astronomer that discovers a strange radio signal which proves to be a first step in uncovering a big plot that is the sort of thing you hear coming from a paranoid schizophrenic in a mental institution. Or one of those weird late night radio shows that fields calls from crazy morons. "The aliens are behind it! Blah, blah, blah..." It's like they simply took some nut job's story and made it into a movie. Sheen is one of the biggest reasons why the movie works. He's so intense and on the edge... really just pitch perfect in this role. Sheen's slightly over the top performance is what keeps the movie fun and from getting too weighed down with it's own bull----. Just look at the facial expressions. Come to think of it, watching this flick I can imagine Charlie Sheen coulda had a great career as a B-movie icon kind of like Bruce Campbell. Or not. But he's great here.
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