The Arrival – Revisited

Have you ever seen “The Arrival“? It came out the same time as ID4 aka Independence Day. The movie did not have as large a budget or the star power that ID4 did–but was a story of evil aliens coming to the planet. Roger Ebert, whom I often agree with–gave it a favorable review. It did not last long in theaters but of the two movies out that summer, I like this one better. (Bill Pullman’s one world speech about makes me throw up every time I see it.) It’s not to say Independence Day is terrible… it’s just not as well told as The Arrival.

The Arrival was directed by David Twohy who also directed:

-Pitch Black (2000)
-G.I. Jane (1997)
-The Fugitive (1993)

Though he’s not always an A-List director, he’s had his moments and The Arrival one of them.

Anyway, they made a sequel (direct to video thank God), The Second Arrival aka Arrival II on DVD, and it actually cheapens the first. It has Patrick Muldoon and a host of other B-List and C-list actors. The story, writing and delivery are as high caliber as the actors. It is shot in Canada on a shoestring budget with no extras. It has one of the worst film scores evah! Special Effects? Re-used and cheaply produced at best. It’s bundled with the first movie on DVD now. If you haven’t seen it, you might not want to bother–unless you’re drawn to watching crappy movies like I am. Here are some funny quotes regarding Arrival II. Some of my favorites are:

“Weak Dialog, Characters Make This Sequel A Loser”
— ccthemovieman-1 « IMDb

“Deliciously awful”
— paulhoog-1 « IMDb

“lame, lame, lame”
— eah51 « IMDb

“One of the worst movies of all times…”
— gbozoki « IMDb

“Wall-Mart had a sale” ***My personal favorite.***
— Jennifer « IMDb

“bad sequel to a great film”
— Jonas Kyratzes « IMDb

“What a POS”
— David Hamm « IMDb

I write this now as I watch The Second Arrival and try to understand why they made a sequel. Anyway, if you’ve not seen The Arrival. I highly recommend it. Charlie Sheen is great as the protagonist and the movie is a personal favorite of mine in the sci-fi genre. I’m tempted to write a third screenplay that omits and/or corrects the events of the second.