Customer Reviews

The Arrival/Arrival II

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

"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.

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.

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

+++++

This disc is a DVD double feature having one movie on each side.

(1) The Arrival (5 stars)

Radio Astronomer Zane Zaminsky (Charlie Sheen) believes he's picked up a cosmic noise that signals ET. Trouble is his boss Phil Gordian (Ron Silver) doesn't believe him. So Zane tries to reestablish contact, which he does but this time the extraterrestrial signal is Earth-based. At the same time, an UCLA environmentalist Ilana Green (Lindsay Crouse) discovers from her data that the global average temperature is predicted to rise an unprecedented dozen degrees over the next decade.

For both Zane and Ilana, the search for answers leads them to Mexico where Zane discovers a mysterious and secretive power plant that's operated by ETs. Through misunderstanding, he's also arrested for the murder of Ilana. Zane must escape with his proof of an alien invasion.

The second half of this movie is truly fascinating. The special effects (considering that this movie was shot on a limited budget) are effective and "smart." These special effects do not get in the way of the excellent acting of Charlie Sheen and Ron Silver (who gives an especially chilling performance).

Some of the scientific topics discussed in this movie are:

greenhouse gases, ET intelligence, radio astronomy, global warming, terraforming, and space aliens.

The DVD extra of this movie gives a good summary of this movie:

"A [ET] signal never meant to be heard,
A secret never meant to be shared,
A scientist never meant to survive."

I was absorbed in this story from beginning to end.

(2) Arrival II (3 stars-I'm being generous here)

After an exhilarating first movie, I was truly disappointed in this sequel.

We're told that Zane has died but before doing so he has sent information packets about "an alien conspiracy" to five people. Three of the most important ones are his stepbrother, computer programmer Jack (Pat Muldoon), an investigative reporter Bridget (Jane Sibbet), and a professor named Nelson Zarcoff (Michael Sarrrazin). (No one from the first movie appears in this sequel.)

The aliens know that Zane has sent these information packets to these people. (Question: how would they know?) The movie then becomes one long chase scene with the aliens having trouble getting to Jack and Bridget.

This movie goes for shock value. There is an unnecessary full-frontal nude scene and decent special effects. (I decided to give this movie a 3 instead of a 2 because of these decent special effects.)

There's only one true extra with this movie: a theatrical trailer.

While the first movie kept me absorbed in the story, this one did not.

Finally, the DVD as a whole has practically perfect picture and sound quality.

In conclusion, "The Arrival" is an effective, intelligent science fiction movie that unfortunately gave birth to a disappointing sequel.

(1996/1998; 110 min/100 min; widescreen; 40 scenes/36 scenes)

+++++

arrival was an inventive, cool movie worthy of 5 stars. however, arrival 2 is NOT. the nudity and "intimate scenes" *snicker* of that really unattractive woman were certainly unnecessary. what exactly was this movie about? where were the aliens with the scarey legs that were so great from the first movie? the only way they can sell this piece of garbage is to include it on a DVD with something else. do yourself a favour and just buy the arrival by itself.

(warning: review will give spoilers for the original The Arrival, a great sci-fi thriller that I enthusiastically recommend)

The Arrival II is an unnecessary follow-up to the original, an inventive and suspenseful sci-fi thriller. Of course, unnecessary follow-ups are a rule of thumb, so a sequel to The Arrival seemed pretty inevitable, especially when you consider its ending. Too bad this "continuation" lacks all the qualities of its predecessors, namely in good writing, acting, and inspired direction. I actually purchased the Arrival II on DVD...as it was a double feature with the original. Before I even popped the film in, I was expecting ...from the first minute, so the best thing I can say is that the movie turned out to be a bit more watchable than I expected.

The Arrival II is set in Montreal, two months after the events of the original. Radio astronomer Zane Zaminski has died of an apparent heart attack, but he did manage to send out info of the alien invasion to his most trusted colleagues, as well as to his stepbrother, Jack Addison (Patrick Muldoon), and a news reporter (Jane Sibbett, Ross' lesbian ex-wife from Friends). This group becomes the targets of the aliens, until the only survivors are Muldoon and Sibbett, who go on the run together and try to expose the aliens' nefarious plans.

The Arrival II suffers distinctly from a lack of freshness, which is much needed in a sequel that's meant to continue a running story. All the material we have here is pretty much repeat. Basically, we know there are aliens out there disguised as human beings and they're whole goal is to terraform the Earth and mold it into an environment suitable for their own colonization. Oh, and let's not forget that spherical object with a strong vacuum pull.

Like the original, we've got our "intelligent" protagonist (we find this out because everyone keeps telling him he's smarter than he thinks) and blonde chick that plays as love interest. Problem is, these two are played by Patrick Muldoon and Jane Sibbett, neither of whom I've seen in anything on film or TV that suggests they can act. Muldoon is mostly expressionless, though occasionally has that "whoa, dude" act that would give Freddie Prinze, Jr. a run for his money. Sibbett is simply dreadful as the reporter. Let's put it this way, those who found Courtney Cox unconvincing as Gail Weathers in the Scream series will be shouting "Come back! All is forgiven!" The other performances aren't worth noting, except maybe Catherine Blythe, who gives the movie its sole bit of very gratuitous nudity.

The script has little to none of the intelligence of the original and it often mistakes scientific mumbo-jumbo as smart screenwriting. The plot's got a lot of twists and turns, mostly involving a guessing game of who's human and who's not. None of these little revelations are the slightest bit surprising, and they might even induce a few scoffs here and there.

The special effects on display range from pretty bad to hilariously awful, the worst bit probably being when one of the aliens reveals its true identity. There are a lot of other clunkers, such as the cheesy-looking holographic displays and the destruction of a power plant in the film's conclusion. Yeah, visual effects themselves usually don't determine a movie's quality, but they sure don't help the film here.

Directed by Kevin S. Tenney, the same guy who gave us the fun Night of the Demons, but has yet to have helmed anything worth seeing since then. For some reason, though, The Arrival II is still somewhat watchable (meaning you won't want to stab yourself in the eye), probably because the concept of aliens disguised as humans is intriguing enough on its own. Too bad this suspenseless and absurd sequel can't capitalize on the original's unique ideas.
* 1/2 out of *****

Now....lets "REALLY" be serious about this two-movie DVD. The problem with a dynamite, ingenious movie made by a favorite star most ANY film watcher recognizes (Charley Sheen) is that people automatically place it in a position where part II faces a pole vault height nearly set to the heavens. To accomodate us ----unfortunately,---- part II acquires a pre-conceived status of cosmo heights that is nearly unreachable even by George Lucas and Stephen Speilberg. I read many, many reviews prior to purchasing a movie (DVD or VHS) and was expecting part II to be the "dredge" of the Love Canal radiation sewage drains. Let me report that Part II was very enjoyable. I DID NOT expect to see Charley again. I DID NOT expect it to parallel part one. I DID NOT have my expectations aloft upon the MIR Russian Space Station. Many reviewers "BLASTED" part II for these previous listed reasons. Shame, shame, shame. Although not "AS" perfect as Part I, you'll enjoy it all the same. Part one is great with wonderful acting and a nicely paced (not too slow) story line. Great modern-day alien invasion flicks. Note in part II: The FX crew accidently broke a door window '''too soon''' prior to the star throwing an object through it. Play it again in slow-mo. It's comical. Please view these with openness and warmth and you too will find both movies enjoyable. I guarantee it.--JIM

I think when people think of aliens they think of just science fiction.Im very glad that movies like the arrival and many others are bringing people to the awareness door.The arrival is real.very direct.invoking the powers of such powerful agencies as NASA,NSA, and the government about their knowing of these species, and how they are probably deeply engaged in certain xperiments that they would not like normal citizens or the publik to know. Sometimes these creatures due to their ability to defy space and time , and due to their ability to appear at will and in any dimension are probably deeply mix in our society.Who knows if we have some alien creatures in kongress,white house,schools,higher think-tank institutions,wall street, and in all aspect of society,?WORKING HARD 4 HIS PEOPLE .DOING ALL HE CAN TO SECURE THE FUTURE OF HIS PEOPLE. We dont know. Next time examine anybody u ever come in contact with.The person next door could be an alien. Now i think arrival is the movie that have agregated all these things in one. it is a great movie addressing the possibility that we could be colonised and be treated just like the way we treat our sub-species.VERY GREAT ALIEN MOVIE.And I like the fact that astronomers are getting some attention in these alien movies

Arrival is a fantastic movie for the 1990s. It ties in so many threads from the conspiracy culture that developed in the 1990s into a coherent whole. Global warming is the result of intentional "terraforming" of earth by an alien race, planning on conquering Earth. NASA is in on the plot. Any listener to Art Bell will recognize the themes. What a great premise for a movie.

Charlie Sheen plays an engaging, quirky character. He plays a radio astronomer who works for SETI and discovers the plot while listening to the stars one night. Nobody believes him. Everyone thinks he is crazy. But of course, he is not crazy.

Arrival II. Skip it. It is a horrible movie. The plotting is completely formulaic. The characters are wooden. The dialog is pathetic. The film even lacks some of the charm of scifi movies that are so bad they are good as comedy (e.g. Plan 9 from Outerspace).

Arrival is one of the better sci-fi films of the 90's and deserves 4 stars in my book, but consider the low-budget sequel, Arrival II, a forgettable bonus.

The Arrival offers up an engrossing, paranoid and believable storyline involving aliens among us who have sinister plans for the planet, at our expense. Charlie Sheen, despite being relegated to that merely-average-actor purgatory, does a decent job as a radio astronomer working for JPL who discovers an unearthly radio message which leads him to Mexico to uncover the strange secret behind a series of mysterious power plants cropping up in third world countries, and their connection with accelerated global warming. Directory David Twohy does an admirable job with the special effects considering the low budget. This film got an undeserved bad rap. More realistic than that mindless "Armageddon"/"ID4" Hollywood dross. As for Arrival II, well, it pretty much destroys what could have been a worthy sequel.