Review of The Arrival (1996) by Steve U — 29 Jun 2005

A pretty cool sci-fi flick. Though this film is really more of a rehash of many films, it is a great update on the "man who knew too much" formula. Taking from films like Invasion of The Body Snatchers. An astronomer stumbles upon strange radio waves, after trying to take the saituatuion public, it is just dismissed as a false rumor, but when he tracks the transmitton to Mexico, he comes upon an amazing underground discovery, which is a cover-up for an ever larger global warming plot, that aliens are using to make the planet more accustomed to their needs, while killing off all the humans.

A really good performance from Charlie Sheen, though it's a bit melodramatic at times, there is a strong sense of paranoia not only within his performance, but in the story. Great visuals as well. This is another instance of a film getting swept under the public eye because of another film with a similar plot was released at the same time. It happened in 1998-99 with The Truman Show, Dark City and the Matrix. All 3 movies had strong similarities together, but obviously the Matrix was the successor. It happened here with Contact (Jodie Foster), Contact having a similar plot as Arrival did, but Contact being more successful at the box office. [size=1] *2 Twoly films viewed[/size].