The Arrival (1997/Lionsgate Blu-ray)
Picture:
B- Sound: B+ Extras: D Film: B-
I have
enjoyed David Twohy's films over the years, so it was nice to go back and
watch his second feature The Arrival.
Twohy obviously loves the Sci-Fi genre
and while The Arrival plays more
like an expensive made for TV movie, that does not make it any less
entertaining. Charlie Sheen, before
hitting a major slump in his career, is cast as Zane, a dish operator searching
for signals in the stars. When he
stumbles across a rather strong signal, he immediately takes it to his NASA
boss Phil Gordian played by the late Ron Silver. Zane is subsequently fired and told to ignore
it. Unable to ignore it and with the
help of his young pesky neighbor Zane makes a home setup and finds the signal
again.
Without
spoiling the movie, this sets off a chain of events that involves aliens and
global warming conspiracies, with an ultimate question of who is an alien and
who is not? This is an entertaining
movie with an interesting twist on the typical alien taking over the planet
theme and is well acted and directed. It
has its flaws and is by no means Twohy's best, but if you are looking for a
decent Sci-Fi movie then you should try this one out.
The Blu-Ray transfer is good. There were
few poor shots and overall the 1080p 1.85X 1 digital High Definition picture is
clear. The sound is done very well with
the 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio (MA) Lossless mix (upgraded from the 5.1 SDDS and
Dolby theatrical master) that explodes out of the speakers with great
clarity. I think this is one of the
better sounding movies on Blu-Ray to date.
There is
not a single extra on this disc. This is
starting to become a very annoying trend with recent Blu-Ray releases. Put a trailer or some exclusive feature on
these discs to make them more appealing for an upgrade or purchase. If you enjoy this film, I also highly
recommend Twohy's little seen movie Below
staring Bruce Greenwood, which Miramax should issue on Blu-ray ASAP.
- Nate Rutkus
