Product Details

• Actors: Patrick Muldoon, Jane Sibbett, Charlie Sheen, Lindsay Crouse, Michael Sarrazin
• Directors: David Twohy, Kevin Tenney
• Writers: David Twohy, Mark David Perry
• Producers: Claudio Castravelli, Cyrus Yavneh, David Tripet, Jim Steele
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Live / Artisan
• DVD Release Date: May 18, 1999
• Run Time: 210 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0784012822
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #157,578 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Arrival / The Arrival II" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SCI-FI AS IT SHOULD BE..., March 2, 2002

By 

Lawyeraau (Balmoral Castle) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Arrival / The Arrival II (DVD)

"The Arrival" 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.

"Arrival II", the sequel to "The Arrival", is not in the same league. None of the original cast are in it. Instead,, the viewer gets handsome Patrick Muldoon in the role of Jack Addison, Zane's estranged brother, picking up where Zane left off in the fight against alien invasion. Jack teams up with investigative reporter Bridget Riordan, played with energetic enthusiasm by Jane Sibbert. Together they seek to foil the sinister alien conspiracy that threatens mankind.

Lacking the more intelligent script and better production values of "The Arrival", the sequel still manages to entertain. Borrowing some of the original themes and types of special effects, it is played out as more of an action film with a lot of chase scenes. While I did not enjoy it as much as the original, I forgave it some of its faux pas and enjoyed it, nonetheless. All in all, it is an entertaining, sci-fi film.

This DVD is really value priced for what one gets. One gets two full length, feature films, both of which are enjoyable. The DVD also gives the viewer the standard production notes, cast and crew bios, as well as a theatrical teaser and trailer. Moreover, the quality of picture and sound is excellent for both films. This is a DVD well worth having in one's collection, if one is a sci-fi fan.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best space alien invasion movie ever, and a lousy sequel, July 24, 2000

By 

S. Schonberger (near Seattle, WA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Arrival / The Arrival II (DVD)

I haven't seen every space alien invasion movie ever made, but I still think I can safely call The Arrival the best ever made in that genre. Too bad it was mostly lost in the marketing assault of Independence Day, a spectacularly awful movie in the same genre. Not only is The Arrival the best space alien invasion movie ever, it's one of the better science fiction movies.

The Arrival, unlike most space alien invasion movies, gives the invaders motivations, cleverness in place of firepower, secrecy instead of grand overconfidence, exploitation of human weakness, and an overall sense that beings capable of star travel aren't stupid. The hero is clever too, and dedicated to his work, and finds a credible way to continue his research after things go bad at the office. He usually makes common-sense decisions rather than idiotic blunders or ridiculously lucky choices. It's good when characters in a movie do what we'd do, instead of something that doesn't make sense but forces the plot in the direction the movie-makers wanted.

Unfortunately, The Second Arrival was an undistinguished sequel. It wasn't truly awful except in comparison to the original, but it certainly wasn't good. Its first problem was that the original didn't leave a good place for a sequel to go, even though its ending left some things unresolved. Another problem is that no one involved in the original was interested in the sequel. Some of the visual design was borrowed from it, but little or none of the mood or intelligence. It's just a not-very-exciting chase movie borrowing a title and a few themes from the original. It's as if a piece of cheesy fan fiction had been adapted into a movie.

To rate the DVD, which has The Arrival on one side and The Second Arrival on the other, it's best to think of the latter as just a DVD extra. Even the lamest DVD extras shouldn't reduce the rating for a good movie. I rate The Arrival at five stars. The Second Arrival deserves only one star, but since it was free with a movie I would have bought anyway, I can give it two. This DVD doesn't do anything bad to The Arrival, so I give it the same five stars as the movie.

24 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Arrival and Arrival 2, February 6, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Arrival / The Arrival II (DVD)

Buy The Arrival on its own if possible it's a worthwhile purchase for sci-fi fans.4 STARS

I bought The Arrival and The Arrival 2 on one DVD and I'm not happy!

1. The box states on the back a widescreen and standard (full screen) format for The Arrival but I can't find a standard format anywhere on this disc!

2. Also and more important is that you don't want to pay the extra for The Arrival 2 because they have boxed it together with the first one because it would not sell on it's own! The Arrival 2 is at best a bad TV movie not even as entertaining as a bad episode of The X-Files. Bad acting , bad directing , bad story , and cheap special effects AVOID THIS ONE ! 0 STARS