THE ARRIVAL
A film review by Scott Renshaw
Copyright 1996 Scott Renshaw
(Orion) Starring: Charlie Sheen, Lindsay Crouse, Ron Silver, Teri Polo, Tony T. Johnson. Screenplay: David Twohy. Producers: Thomas Smith, Jim Steele. Director: David Twohy. Reviewed by Scott Renshaw.
These are the times that try a critic's soul, these summer months of high budgets and low expectations. They are the times that can make me begin to question what it is I am looking for in escapist entertainment, as I read raves for hyped-up disappointments like TWISTER and MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE and wonder what it is that I am supposed to be missing. They are the times when a piece of fluff like DRAGONHEART seems that much better when compared to the competition, and they are the times when a film like THE ARRIVAL, lacking a big star or never-before-seen special effects, will likely drown in a sea of higher-profile releases. But THE ARRIVAL is the kind of thriller which reminds me _exactly_ what I'm looking for in escapist entertainment: a script which has genuine wit, genuine intelligence, and genuine excitement, and which convinces me that the writer spent at least as much time creating it as I spent watching it. That perfectly describes THE ARRIVAL.
Charlie Sheen stars as Zane Ziminski, a radio astronomer working at a Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) facility, searching the skies for signals of other-worldly origin. On one late-night shift, that is exactly what he finds, yet Zane's boss Phil Gordian (Ron Silver) seems remarkably cool to the news, and in fact informs Zane that he is being laid off. But Zane refuses to let go of his discovery, and his continuing investigation leads him to Mexico. There he hooks up with Ilana Green (Lindsay Crouse), an atmospheric researcher studying global warming. Together, they begin to discover a conspiracy which suggests that the aliens aren't just coming -- they're already here.
THE ARRIVAL marks the directing debut of writer David Twohy (THE FUGITIVE and the under-appreciated TERMINAL VELOCITY), and he demonstrates such a keen understanding of what makes an action thriller work that it seems he was born for the job. In the first minute of the film, he grabbed me by the collar with a beautifully constructed opening sequence, and for the next 109 minutes he simply refused to let go. There are sequences in THE ARRIVAL which play like textbook examples of how to build tension, particularly one involving a room full of scorpions which is guaranteed to have you squirming if you have a pulse. There is a kind of suspense which plots based on paranoia are much better at generating, and Twohy nails it, as well as turning it to humorous effect by connecting the greenhouse effect and the failure of the Hubble telescope to alien visitors.
That is really what separates THE ARRIVAL from the pack: a sense of humor which surpasses most of the so-called comedies I see in any given year. Sheen has a solid, deadpan sense of comic timing which worked well with Twohy's TERMINAL VELOCITY script, and again he wraps each line in a wry self-awareness. Zane is not a particularly dynamic role -- he's gung-ho about finding extra-terrestrial life, but it's never quite clear why -- and another actor might have given it more depth. However, Sheen makes the comic lines feel un-scripted, and he appears to be adept at playing Twohy's favored hero -- a resourceful individual whose actions under duress seem natural and basically intelligent. Plus, there is a priceless irony to Sheen, the most notorious and unapologetic customer of "Hollywood Madam" Heidi Fleiss, reading the line, "There's something to be said for abstinence."
THE ARRIVAL is so effective in some of its early scenes that the big sequence in the aliens' lair comes as something of a disappointment, since Twohy seems less concerned with maintaining the pace than he is with showing off his visual effects. There are a few logical errors I caught upon reflection, and the abrupt ending is likely to leave some viewers feeling a bit unsatisfied. But THE ARRIVAL is a rarity so far this summer movie season: it is a smart and tightly-plotted film that I couldn't always out-guess, and didn't always find myself _trying_ to out-guess. I was so instantly aware of how skillfully David Twohy could manipulate me that I simply let him. And that, friends, is how I define "willing suspension of disbelief."
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 illegal aliens: 8.
-- Scott Renshaw Stanford University http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~srenshaw
o help us understand her; she is merely presenting us with the facts of an individual's life and the world surrounding that individual. I SHOT ANDY WARHOL is exceedingly well-documented, and that makes it great journalism. Mary Harron directs her actors and her environment to perfection, and that makes it great theater. What is missing is human drama, and a sense of what this story is really about. That, quite simply, does not make a great film.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 shots in the dark: 7.
-- Scott Renshaw Stanford University http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~srenshaw
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