Arrival [Blu-ray]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

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 (Lindsey 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. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

DVD FEATURES:

• Number of Discs: 1
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 (Theatre Wide Screen)
• Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio
• Screen: Color, Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Subtitle: Spanish, English

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Charlie Sheen - Zane Ziminski
       Ron Silver - Phil Gordian
       Lindsay Crouse - Ilana Green
       Teri Polo - Char
       Richard Schiff - Calvin

• Director:

  David N. Twohy

• Producer:

  Thomas G. Smith, Jim Steele, Melissa Cira Taylor, David N. Twohy

• Screenwriter:

  David N. Twohy

• Cinematographer:

  Russell J. Lyster, Richard Malzahn, Isidore Mankofsky, Hiro Narita, Mark Shelton

• Composer (Music Score):

  Arthur Kempel

• Musical Direction/Supervision:

  Sharal Churchill, Audrey DeRoche, William Kidd

• Songwriter:

  Arthur Kempel

• Editor:

  Martin Hunter, Steve R. Moore

• Production Designer:

  Michael Novotny

• Art Director:

  Hector Romero, Tony Stabley

• Co-producer:

  Cyrus Yavneh

• Associate Producer:

  Lorenzo O'Brien, David Tripet

REVIEW:

• 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. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

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