The Arrival

Release Year : 1996

AKA : Shockwave

Directed By : David Twohy

Written By : David Twohy

Starring : Charlie Sheen, Richard Schiff, Lindsay Crouse

Related Links : IMDB, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com

 

Charlie Sheen wanders around looking intense and demented as an astronomer who discovers aliens are not only real, but that they have a deadly secret they'll do anything to protect.

Sheen really does look crazed in this, some UFO expert crossed with William 'D-Fens' Foster (Michael Douglas) from 1993 film Falling Down. Ya could almost picture him pulling out a rocket launcher, shoving it in some beaurocrats face, and shouting "Now do you believe in fucking aliens". Even in the tender scenes with his wife he looks poised to bend her over, ram away, and shout about showing her his space ship. Maybe the CIA were slipping some LSD into his water supply a la X Files.

Conspiracy theorists and those who love a good bit of sci-fi hokum which blends in a bit of an ecological theme with global warming will lap this up. Everything is mixed in here, government complicity, secrecy, beaurocracy run rampant, secrets, lies, and crazy looking bearded experts. Sheen is discredited as part of the conspiracy. Sounds familiar, like so many whistle blowers in real life who may (or may not) have insights into some of the worlds darker conspiracies.

It's sci fi hokum that contains all the usual themes and stereotypes, but which does handle them well and grabs the viewers attention. Pacing is good and fast, carried in most part by Sheens hecticly crazed persona. Perhaps some amphetamine went into that water supply as well. The alien dudes look suitably alien when we get to see em in the flesh, they'd fit seamlessly into an episode of Deep Space 9 or a DIY Roswell autopsy.

There's an enjoyable and diverting film here, noticeably scarred by a few plot incosistences and borrowing heavily from other movies/the already established UFO/Conspiracy ideas, but a solid watch nonetheless. Don't expect all out alien war, but for a paranoia fostering little excursion into the aliens are among us and they ain't friendly genre then ya could do a lot worse.