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Jeremy Clarke reviewsThe ArrivalDistributed by
Pioneer LDCE
- Cat.no: PLFEB 36611
- Cert: 12
- Running time: 110 minutes
- Sides: 2 (CLV)
- Year: 1996
- Pressing: 1997
- Chapters: 26 (14/12)
- Sound: Dolby Surround
- Fullscreen: Director-Approved Unmatted Master (not Pan & Scan)
- Price: £19.99
- Extras : None
Director:
- David Twohy
(Timescape)
Producers:
- Thomas G. Smith and Jim Steele
Screenplay:
- David Twohy
Music:
- Arthur Kempel
Cast:
- Zane Zaminsky: Charlie Sheen (Hot Shots!, Shadow Conspiracy, Terminal Velocity, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Wall Street, Platoon)
Ilona Green: Lindsay Crouse (Between The Lines, Communion, The Juror, The Verdict, House Of Games)
Char: Teri Polo (Crossfire, Golden Gate, Mystery Date, A Prayer In The Dark)
Gordian: Ron Silver (Timecop, Blue Steel, Girl 6, Fellow Traveller, “Chicago Hope” (TV))
Somewherein the arctic, wandering ecologist Ilona Green (Lindsay Crouse)is more than a little surprised to find a small area of green and yellowvegetation like a field in the middle of the countryside. Further Southin the States, whizz kid astronomer Zane Zaminsky (Charlie Sheen)picks up peak wave forms on his monitor and becomes convinced he’s madecontact with aliens. Unsympathetic boss Gordian (Ron Silver) gets veryangry about Zane’s wasting his time over loopy theories and promptly fireshim – and since Zane made only one cassette tape recording of the transmission,he doesn’t have a lot of proof to convince anyone else otherwise.
Unable to get a job anywhere else on account of Gordian’s pulling strings,he sets up shop as a cable TV salesman and connects up a series of satellitedishes so as to pick up the alien signal, recruiting a local black kidwho hangs around the house. Sure enough, a further signal appears andcan be traced to Mexico, where Zane runs into Green who’s having a toughtime researching an unlikely conspiracy involving increased greenhousegases and speeded up global warming. What’s actually going on involves alocal Mexican police chief who looks remarkably like his boss (Silveragain) and has links with a mysterious factory nearby – underneathwhich, naturally, unearthly aliens are running around perpetrating theirnefarious plan.
Writer-director David Twohy pitches the whole thing like an action movie andis unlikely to pick up any extra marks for intelligence. But even thoughThe Arrival ain’t 2001 – or even Contact – it is a lot offun.
To its credit, it eschews the two mainstream Hollywood alien types (glowingfingers, multiple teeth) in favour of the decade’s most original aliensyet, beautifully realised by CG effects house Pacific Data Images. It mighthave been nice to have seen more of them, but the script is cleverly constructedand the real problem would have come if one had seen to much and not come tothe end of the disc wanting to see more.
Other nice set pieces include a bathtub falling through several storeysand Crouse turning in for the night blissfully unaware that her hotelroom is crawling with scorpions (horrible, glistening, black nastiesthat look stunning thanks to LD’s picture resolution capability).
Widescreen buffs (among whom I number myself) should be warned that themaster used here appears identical to the full screen video versionlosing as it does no significant visual information off picture sides.You don’t get the black bars, you do get more picture. But surely LDbuyers want to imitate the cinema experience, so aren’t black bars andcorrect theatrical framing preferable to having the screen filled withpicture (not to mention, you can centre the picture properly if you owna 16:9 telly)? To be fair, the unmatted compositions work well enough -but a properly matted widescreen version would have proved an even moreattractive proposition.
For the rest, picture and transfer appear fine, the side break is okay and thedisc has slightly over twenty five chapters which is adequate. Glisteningblack scorpions aside, the main reason to buy Pioneer’s disc is the aliensthemselves, a real breakthrough in CGI special effects – and they look great.A worthwhile purchase, then, aspect ratio qualms notwithstanding.
Film: 5/5
Picture: 5/5
Sound: 5/5
Review copyright © Jeremy Clarke, 1997.E-mail Jeremy Clarke
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