THE ARRIVAL, David Twohy’s “they’re already here…” alien paranoia opus, has been the victim of a 30-year smear campaign. Since its theatrical release in 1996, the Charlie Sheen-vehicle about a radio astronomer who finds genuine proof of extraterrestrial life as well as confirmation that those E.T.s are making themselves a little more terrestrial than human beings would be comfortable with, has been saddled with an obvious conspiracy. This particular conspiracy is especially egregious in how effective it’s been in its shocking aims: to convince the public at large that this deeply fun thriller is merely a “mid” science fiction outing. I acknowledge that this may put my life in danger, but I’m here to go on record that THE ARRIVAL is pretty damn cool, actually.
As we all know, the most effective conspiratorial lies have a basis in fact, and the truth here is that competition was hot and thick on the ground when it came to aliens on the screen in the 1990s. The runaway success of television’s The X-Files, which debuted in 1993, is inarguably a huge driver of this trend, but unlike space, its influence was not in a vacuum. The cosmos and its possible inhabitants have been fuel for fiction for centuries, but there was a sea change in popular American culture in 1989 when a former contractor from New Mexico’s Los Alamos National Laboratory named Bob Lazar came out with a story that confirmed the existence of Area 51 and alleged that the U.S. government didn’t just have alien technology, but that it was actively being worked on in reverse-engineering efforts.
No matter where you fall on the “believer” scale when it comes to beings from above, there’s a natural attraction to the unknown suddenly having a passionate and vocal crusader, and this particular story exploded in a wide range of imaginations. Whether it conjures up ire, interest, terror, or even annoyance, once an especially interesting and weird klaxon starts ringing in the culture at large, so do the opportunities. From the creation of The Sci-Fi Channel in 1992 to ALIEN AUTOPSY: FACT OR FICTION? (1995) to countless alien-based TV shows and movies of all budgetary levels coming out on a seemingly weekly basis, the ‘90s were very good to interplanetary visitors making sweet, sweet Earth money.
For its part, THE ARRIVAL plays an incredible balancing act in acknowledging published beliefs in UFO phenomena to please the true believers while keeping a more neutral audience entertained with a solid story. Charlie Sheen’s bespectacled and be-goateed Zane Zaminsky might discover a simple radio transmission while he’s at work, but you better believe this intense man of the ‘90s is off to the races once he realizes they’re coming from a star 14 light-years away. Zane is working for SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) and answering to NASA, so his credentials oughta count for something, right? Unfortunately for him and fortunately for the audience, his boss, played by Ron Silver, suddenly has endless roadblocks when it comes to processing this newfound information, and a suspiciously timed budget cut has Zane immediately losing his job.
What follows is a tale of a man with formal education in his head and a stubborn belief in truth in his heart who’s now free to get to the bottom of things all on his own. Well, almost all on his own: He’s joined by Kiki (Tony T. Johnson), an enthusiastic kid who apparently just wants to help out, plus two women who pass the Bechdel test and do it with style: Teri Polo as Char, Zane’s girlfriend, and Lindsay Crouse as Ilana, a climate scientist whose research overlaps with Zane’s newfound crusade. The movie soon becomes a road picture to Mexico, with attempted murder bathtubs, high-jumping aliens, thick latex makeup, and charmingly dated CGI all joining in on the fun.
Unfortunately, my affection for the film seems to be in the minority. THE ARRIVAL landed in theaters in late May 1996. Ultimately making only $14 million of its $25 million budget back, the movie was beleaguered with middling-to-poor reviews (save for my sweet Roger Ebert, who gave it a glowing 3.5/4 stars). Many critics focused on criticizing Charlie Sheen’s performance, which is often frenetic, sweaty, and wide-eyed. Here’s the thing: That’s the perfect way to play this particular character in this particular whackadoo situation. Despite his zany alliterative name, Zane Zaminsky is more often than not an intelligent and savvy individual who’s willing to put himself on the line in his pursuit of the radio signal’s origin and meaning. He’s passionate because he has evidence, and only aliens and their conspirators paint those types as delusional maniacs.
Writer and director David Twohy, having already survived the critical gauntlet after co-writing the previous year’s legendary box office bomb WATERWORLD, had written Sheen’s TERMINAL VELOCITY (1994) and knew that he had a high-energy actor with a sense of humor on his hands. With Sheen’s ‘90s career largely ping-ponging between action and comedy films, it was a nice change of pace to see him use aspects of both but funnel them into a more cerebral concept with a character who does relatable things like wear flannel and respond to a compliment on how he looks with “Actually, I look like a can full of smashed assholes.”
1996 fell into that sweet time period when a movie could stick around theaters for a while and then make bank with video rentals and premium cable showings even if it didn’t immediately set the box office on fire. This year, however, INDEPENDENCE DAY would invade theaters on July 3rd, and with an eventual worldwide gross of over $817 million dollars, it easily eclipsed all other comers in the genre.
Some may try to undermine my defense of THE ARRIVAL and my bravery in pointing out its attendant conspiracy by saying that my own upbringing may unfairly bias my attitude toward the movie. Growing up, my dad did contract work for the government in the aerospace industry that I genuinely need to be vague about, and we frequently moved to be near different Air Force bases. Between New Mexico and Nevada, I came of age around piles of science fiction books and magazines, technical manuals, treatises on space and what may lie beyond, SETI@home perpetually running on the family computer, Mulder and Scully, Buckaroo Banzai, and The Sci-Fi Channel constantly on the TV, and on my own volition, I picked out astronomy and museum camps for summer recreation. Heck, my family almost moved to Roswell instead of Las Vegas when I was in high school.
So to those accusatory people, I say: Nice try, but shut up because I’m onto you.
THE ARRIVAL has its fans, but it’s never become the cult classic that I’d argue it deserves to be, despite also having its own video game and a direct-to-video Canadian sequel. Perhaps it’s just a smidge too glossy to be campy enough; its cast, locations, sweeping cinematography, and even special effects, though quite dated, are memorable and effective. It also has a sense of fun that flies in the face of being an alien film that takes itself too seriously. Jokes are natural parts of conversation, the relationships feel genuine and easy, and a surprising amount of the dialogue would fit just fine into a well-written comedy (“I get so damn apocalyptic when I drink.”) To paraphrase Fox Mulder, the movie is too good to be programmed, categorized, or easily referenced, and thus, its lukewarm place in the pantheon of alien movies falls somewhere in the area of “Oh, not the Denis Villeneuve movie, the other one.”
I don’t know who stood to profit off of THE ARRIVAL’s thud of a landing with audiences other than actual aliens who, likely after realizing what’s in the movie falls under documentary more than mere fantasy, decided to use their influence to keep as many people from seeing it as possible. From its off-and-on doomed distribution company (Orion) to causing so much upheaval in its production company, Live Entertainment, that it became Artisan Entertainment soon after, those Grays sure knew what they were doing in the Hollywood ecosystem at the time.
I’m a lone, paranoid voice. My only power lies in knowing how fun, smart, and action-packed THE ARRIVAL actually is and how its focus on climate disasters and media manipulation still rings tragically true today. It’s a well-made movie that wants you to have a good time with funny-looking aliens while still engaging with enough science that your brain doesn’t wander too far off. Now is the best time to break away from the programming and finally give this movie a chance: It’s incredibly easy to find streaming, and Vestron even released a 4k disc recently. They must think we’re not looking! So go look at it! IT’S HERE ALREADY! YOU’RE NEXT!
