THE ARRIVAL
A film review by Craig Good
Copyright 1996 Craig Good
This year I'm in a real Summer Movie Mood. I saw "Twister" on opening night. I saw "Mission: Impossible" on the night of the "sneak". I'm looking forward to ID4, "The Eraser" and even "The Rock". Heck, I'm even going to go see "Dragonheart". Both "Twister" and "M:I" were fun in their own right, as long as I was in a forgiving mood, which I was. This weekend I ran out to see a film about which I knew practically nothing. I went with my same easy-going summer movie attitude.
And then "The Arrival" turned out to be such a pleasant surprize that I realized I didn't have to cut it so much slack. This is a tightly scripted Sci-Fi thriller which is every bit as effective as "The Thing" or "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" albeit for subtly different reasons. The best surprize in the movie? It was the fact that there were surprizes! At least three times during the film I said, "Now I did not see *that* coming". The next best surprize? That it remains true to itself and does not degenerate into an action picture in the third act. No fist fight. No snappy one liners after killing someone. Wow.
Being science fiction it does, of course, take a few liberties with physics and technology. But it only does so when it needs to, and always at the service of the story. It's not at a Larry Niven level of accuracy, but compared to any "Star Trek" episode it comes off like a physics textbook. The effects range from adequate to stunning. The most important thing about them is that they always serve the story. I guess that makes "The Arrival" the "Anti-Twister".
By now you've noticed that I'm being pretty vague about the content of the movie. That's because I had the pleasure of seeing it "cold", and I'd like you to have the same. If I even tell you the *kind* of surprizes it holds in store, I could ruin some of the fun for you. I will say that the performances are engaging, especially in the case of Charlie Sheen. Screenwriter David Twohy slips into the director's chair for the first time (not counting one TV movie) and proves that he has some seriously good chops.
If you haven't seen "Twister" and "Mission Impossible" yet, skip them until later. Do yourself a favor and catch "The Arrival" instead.
--Craig
good@pixar.com
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