Subject: REVIEW: THE ARRIVAL (1996)

From: [email-masked] (Ram Samudrala)
Date: 18 Feb 1997 14:32:07 GMT

THE ARRIVAL
                       A film review by Ram Samudrala
                        Copyright 1997 Ram Samudrala

Would you guess that the greenhouse effect and global warming is
caused by aliens trying to make this planet more hospitable?  I
wouldn't, but that's the premise behind /The Arrival/.  Given all the
theories about the global warming phenomena, this doesn't seem that
incongrous, and that's what makes /The Arrival/ a decent sci-fi
flick.

Zane Zimnski (Charlie Sheen) and Calvin (Richard Schiff), two SETI
operatives, intercept a communication signal from the alien planet,
Wolf-336.  Zane passes it on to his boss (Ron Silver) and he is
immediately fired, and Calvin is found dead.  However Zane doesn't
give up and intercepts another signal, this time from planet earth to
the aliens.  In an attempt to track down the location, he flies to
Mexico where he finds everything isn't quite what it appears to be.

This is really a great movie as far as sci-fi movies go, and I regret
not seeing it on the big screen.  Sheen is convincing as a paranoid
nerdy astromer.  The plot itself is reasonably rigourous, and it
avoids many of the cliches and easy solutions found in other movies.
There is also quite a bit of suspense, one in a scene involving the
scorpions, and in not knowing who Zaminski can trust.  The
cinematography is quite novel, which sometimes leads to a horror-movie
atmosphere.  /The Arrival/ also teaches us a lesson about environment
pollution.  This is definitely worth renting.

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