The Arrival

2/4

Starring: Charlie Sheen, Ron Silver, Lindsay Crouse, Teri Polo, Tony T. Johnson

Rated PG-13 for Some Sci-Fi Violence and Terror, and for Brief Language

"The Arrival" starts out strongly, like Alfred Hitchcock meets "Invasion of the Body Snatchers."  But the longer the film goes on, the sillier it gets, and it wasn't long before I stopped caring.  The idea, that aliens are the cause of global warming, has merit, but the execution does not.

Zane Zalinsky (Sheen) is a researcher looking for extra-terrestrial life.  He and his co-worker, Calvin (Richard Schiff), come across a strong signal, but it goes away before they can officially verify it.  Nevertheless, Zane takes it to his boss, Gordy (Silver), who promptly fires him.  More mysterious things are going on, which leads to Zane to believe that the aliens are here already.  Meanwhile, a climatologist named Illana Green (Crouse) is investigating why the climate is warming up so rapidly.  Both of them end up in Mexico, where they make horrifying discoveries.

The problem with this movie is that it's dumb, and when it gets going (around the 40 minute mark), it loses its creepiness factor and ends up being a chase movie.  During the second half of the film, Zane does one of two things: run/drive away from someone, or breathlessly explain the plot.

The acting varies.  Three performances, Sheen, Silver and Polo, are good.  Crouse is effective.  Tony T. Johnson, however, is awful; every scene without him is a breath of fresh air.  Special mention must be made of the late great Ron Silver, who is splendidly creepy.

I'm not the world's biggest fan of David Twohy.  Of the four out of five movies I've seen him direct, only one of them I liked ("A Perfect Getaway").  He's not a very good writer or director.  The film is littered with plotholes and jumpy editing (one scene has Zane racing to a truck to find that the keys to the building are locked in the car, then the film cuts and he's unlocking the door...what?).

There is some legitimate suspense, and I was guessing who was really human and who was alien, and one of the answers did surprise me.  But that's not enough to recommend the film.

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