Do you want to see ‘The Arrival’?

The Arrival (1996)

tomatometer

All Critics
Top Critics

Average Rating: 6.3/10
Reviews Counted: 32
Fresh: 20 | Rotten: 12

Stylish and inventive, The Arrival offers a surprisingly smart spin on the alien invasion genre.

Average Rating: 6.1/10
Critic Reviews: 6
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 2

Stylish and inventive, The Arrival offers a surprisingly smart spin on the alien invasion genre.

audience

liked it
Average Rating: 2.9/5
User Ratings: 11,433

My Rating

Added to your Facebook Timeline. — undo

Movie Info

A shy radio telescope operator named Zane Ziminski (Charlie Sheen) picks up a series of regular signals coming from space -- and deliberately pointed toward Earth. Convinced that he has discovered alien transmissions, Ziminski is first chastised and then fired by his boss (Ron Silver). Obsessed, he builds a makeshift radio telescope in his house to find out where the signals were sent. Convinced that they're intended for aliens already hidden on Earth, he tracks them to a bleak, isolated Mexican

PG-13, 1 hr. 49 min.

Mystery & Suspense, Science Fiction & Fantasy

Directed By: David Twohy

In Theaters: May 31, 1996 Wide

On DVD: Jul 25, 2000

Orion Pictures Corporation

The Arrival Trailer & Photos

Cast

Charlie Sheen
Zane Ziminski
Ron Silver
Phil Gordian
Lindsay Crouse
Ilana Green
Teri Polo
Char
Richard Schiff
Calvin
Tony T. Johnson
Kiki
Phyllis Applegate
Mrs. Roosevelt
Roger Cudney
JPL Official
Leon Rippy
1st Department of Defen...
David Villalpando
cabbie
Jacqueline Voltaire
reporter
Jorge Zepeda
detective
Buddy Joe Hooker
2nd Department of Defen...
Maria Luisa Coronel
maid
Luisa Huertas
security woman
Jos� Garcia
planecorp guard
Jorge Becerril
plancecorp guard
Reed Johnson
maintenance man
M�nica Dionne
reporter
Ellen Bradley
screaming woman
Alan Coates
Terraformer
Javier Morga
co-worker
Catalina Botello
N. C. A. R. Woman
Georg Lillitsch
George Computer Technic...
Angel De La Pena
Skeleton Man
Alejandro Usigli
reporter
Dave Galasso
2nd Jpl Guard
Andrea Sisniega
weather woman
Shane
1st JPL guard

Critic Reviews for The Arrival

All Critics (37) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (20) | Rotten (12) | DVD (7)

It's a strong, lean piece of writing that moves quickly. Nothing is wasted, and nothing happens the way you'd expect.

June 18, 2002 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle

| Comment

Mick LaSalle

San Francisco Chronicle

Top Critic

A movie that shoehorns a blunt warning into its silly but entertaining story of a young radio astronomer's one-man battle against sinister extraterrestrials.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: New York Times

| Comment

Stephen Holden

New York Times

Top Critic

The movie is as smart as ``Mission: Impossible'' is dumb.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times

| Comment

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Top Critic

This is not a dumb movie; in fact, with its heavy reliance upon real science, it's startlingly credible.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: ReelViews

| Comment

James Berardinelli

ReelViews

Top Critic

[Sheen] spends most of the movie in a kind of sweaty apoplexy that makes one worry for his health.

May 31, 1996 Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly

| Comment

Lisa Schwarzbaum

Entertainment Weekly

Top Critic

Less an alien invasion movie than a conspiracy film (it just hapens to turn out that the conspirators are aliens).

April 21, 2009 Full Review Source: Cinefantastique

| Comment

Steve Biodrowski

Cinefantastique

What it lacks in sophistication (everything), it partly makes up for in sheer gall.

February 9, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out

| Comment

Geoff Andrew

Time Out

You know a movie's in trouble when it's called The Arrival and nothing arrives -- the film's aliens are already here.

October 14, 2005 Comment

Chuck O'Leary

FulvueDrive-in.com

The aliens-among-us plot gets a very entertaining and inventive update.

October 29, 2004 Comment

Rob Thomas

Capital Times (Madison, WI)

A good premise, hampered by a weak ending.

May 12, 2003 Comment

Brian Mckay

eFilmCritic.com

...The Arrival is a stylish and fast-paced thriller.

September 25, 2002 Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews

| Comment

David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

Sheen is working outside of his element, but the energy he puts into his multidimensional character helps keep the story moving.

June 5, 2002 Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine

| Comment

Dwayne E. Leslie

Boxoffice Magazine

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for The Arrival

View All

I remember very little about this film to give it a higher rating than this. I'll have to revisit it one day.

November 24, 2007

Tim Salmons

Super Reviewer

Not a bad movie. Typical science fiction - aliens are on earth, and only one guy (Charlie Sheen) does something about it - even though he gets fired, loses his girl friend, has friends die mysteriously, gets framed for murder, etc.

May 7, 2009