At the outset of the 1996 summer movie season, critics had worked themselves into a lather over what they perceived to be the increasing vapidity of studio blockbusters. They were irked by the senselessness of films like “Twister” and “Mission: Impossible,” which, they contended, valued thrilling set pieces and eye-popping visual effects over narrative coherence and character development. The New York Times’ cultural critic Michiko Kakutani inveighed, “Not only are old-fashioned stories with beginnings, middles, and ends on their way to extinction, but basic principles of dramatization, character, and structure are in danger of becoming endangered species as well.”
I kinda saw their point with “Twister,” but my biggest issue with Jan de Bont’s film was that it failed to capture the sheer terror of tornados. As for “Mission: Impossible,” the MacGuffin-driven plot hangs together just fine; I just think the critics were struggling to keep up with the breakneck pacing. Nevertheless, every big summer movie that year was subject to this kind of killjoy scrutiny, which led to perfectly solid B movies getting overpraised when they eased up on the gas and calmly told a good old-fashioned story.
David Twohy’s Charlie Sheen-led alien invasion thriller “The Arrival” was one such movie. It’s a smart, well-performed programmer that builds to a satisfying climax. Made for a fraction of the budget spent on “Twister,” it surprised critics who were expecting a run-of-the-mill sci-fi flick. Roger Ebert was one of its biggest fans, primarily because it wasn’t as slam-bang silly as the other offerings that summer (though that wasn’t enough to prevent the film from flopping).
What The Arrival lacks in technical oomph, it makes up for in science smarts
In his three-and-a-half-star review, Ebert repeatedly described “The Arrival” as being the antithesis of “Mission: Impossible.” “‘The Arrival’ is as smart as ‘Mission: Impossible’ is dumb,” he wrote. The film stars Sheen as a SETI radio astronomer who finds what he believes is an extraterrestrial signal from a star 14 light years away from Earth. When he’s abruptly fired upon making his discovery, he takes a job as a satellite dish repairman, which allows him to create an array of dishes through which he can monitor the signal. Amusingly, Ebert acknowledged he had no idea if this would work, but wrote, “I like his attitude.” It’s almost as if you can let logically iffy concepts slide if you’re having a good time with a movie!
Ebert also praised “The Arrival” for its unpredictable plotting, strong performances, and inventive visuals from Twohy. He loved the twist (which he spoiled, but I won’t because it really is pretty nifty), and he felt that Twohy has found a novel way to present an alien invasion. While I couldn’t disagree with Ebert more about “Mission: Impossible,” I will say that “The Arrival” is a damn good B movie precursor to Robert Zemeckis’ “Contact” (which came out a year later). Most importantly, it features Sheen uttering the unforgettable line, “Actually, I look like a bag of smashed a**holes.” For this alone, it is well worth your time.
