The Arrival (1996 film)

The Arrival is a 1996 science fiction thriller film written and directed by David Twohy and starring Charlie Sheen, and co-starring Lindsay Crouse, Ron Silver, Teri Polo, and Richard Schiff. Sheen stars as radio astronomer Zane Zaminsky who discovers evidence of intelligent alien life and quickly finds himself in the middle of a conspiracy with global consequences. The film is an international co-production between the United States and Mexico. A sequel, Arrival II, was released direct-to-video in 1998.
Zane Zaminsky and Calvin, radio astronomers employed by SETI, detect and record an extraterrestrial radio signal from Wolf 336, a star located 14 light-years away from Earth. Zane reports his discovery to his supervisor, Phil "Gordi" Gordian, at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), but Gordi dismisses the findings and destroys the tape when alone. Zane is terminated due to alleged budget cuts and blacklisted, which prevents him from working at other telescopes. While having troubles with his girlfriend Char, Zane takes up a job as a television satellite dish installer and secretly creates his own telescope array with the aid of his customers' dishes in the neighborhood. He operates it covertly from his attic with the assistance of his young next-door neighbor, Kiki.
After relocating the extraterrestrial radio signal, Zane realizes that it is being drowned out by a terrestrial signal originating from a Mexican radio station. He attempts to seek the help of Calvin, but finds that he has died supposedly due to carbon monoxide poisoning (but actually murdered). Zane travels to Mexico and discovers that the radio station has just been destroyed by fire. Exploring the area, he stumbles upon a recently constructed power plant where he meets Ilana Green, a climatologist from NCAR, and helps her safeguard her atmospheric analysis equipment from the plant's aggressive security forces. While being held captive at the plant, Ilana explains that the Earth's temperature has rapidly increased by a few degrees, leading to the melting of polar ice and a shift in the ecosystem. She is investigating the power plant, which seems to be one of several recently built facilities across the world that may be responsible for the rise in temperature. The two are released, but Ilana's equipment is confiscated, and Zane notices that one of the guards resembles Gordi. As Zane and Ilana regroup, Gordi dispatches agents disguised as gardeners to release a device in Zane's attic that vacuums up his equipment. Zane leaves Ilana in the hotel and goes to investigate the power plant, while scorpions are planted in her room, killing her.
Zane discovers that the power plant is a facade for an extraterrestrial base. The aliens blend in with humanity by wearing an external skin, and the base emits massive amounts of greenhouse gases. Zane returns to the nearby town to seek help from the local inspector. However, the aliens bring Ilana's body to the police station, making Zane a suspect in her death, prompting him to flee back to the United States. Zane confronts Gordi at the JPL headquarters and coerces him into confessing that the aliens are raising Earth's temperature to eliminate the human race and create a more livable environment for themselves (like terraforming). Gordi suggests aliens were behind recent NASA failures, saying "Ask yourself why an antenna won't deploy on a deep-space probe. Or ask how they could launch a $6 billion telescope without testing its mirror." Zane secretly records the conversation, and once Gordi becomes aware of the recording, he dispatches agents to apprehend Zane.
Returning home, Zane discovers that his attic has been emptied of all equipment. He enlists the help of Char and Kiki to journey to a radio astronomy array with the intention of sending his recording to a news satellite. Gordi and his agents sabotage the telescope and satellite controls from the main building. Zane entrusts the tape to Kiki and instructs him to transmit it when given the signal. Zane and Char sneak into the telescope's base and lock themselves in the control room, making the necessary adjustments. When Zane orders Kiki to activate the tape, Kiki reveals himself to be an alien agent and unlocks the door for Gordi to enter. Gordi seizes the tape.
Zane subdues Gordi and his agents with liquid nitrogen. While attempting to retrieve the tape from Gordi's jacket, one of the agents accidentally releases a sphere that begins to engulf the room. Zane and Char flee through the radio telescope station's access shaft and exit onto the collapsed dish before the device causes most of the base to implode. From their vantage point, they spot Kiki below and instruct him to inform the aliens that Zane will soon broadcast the tape.
Prior to the film's release, the working title was Shockwave. Filming took place primarily in Mexico, with additional scenes filmed at the Owens Valley Radio Observatory. The alien creatures were all digitally created for the movie by Pacific Data Images. Charlie Sheen had previously collaborated with David Twohy on Terminal Velocity, and Twohy had written the main role intending for Sheen to star.
The film received mixed to positive reviews from critics; at review aggregation website, Rotten Tomatoes it has a rating of 66% based on reviews from 35 critics, with an average score of 6.2/10, and its consensus states that "The Arrival is stylish and inventive and offers a surprisingly smart spin on the alien invasion genre."
The film was a commercial failure. It only grossed US$14 million in the North American domestic market, against an estimated production budget of US$25 million. Part of this was due to high-visibility marketing campaign for the release of Independence Day just over a month later, which went on to become a box office phenomenon. The Arrival had a rather successful run internationally, partly because Charlie Sheen still maintained high popularity worldwide at the time.
A Blu-ray version of the film was released April 21, 2009. Unlike the laserdisc release, the Blu-ray version includes no special features. The laserdisc release included commentary, documentaries and alternative endings not included in the Blu-ray or DVD releases.
A sequel, Arrival II, was released on November 6, 1998.
The Arrival was released on Windows in 1997.