The Arrival

The Arrival is currently streaming in Australia on Hoopla, and in the US on Amazon Prime Video and Philo, and it earns its premise rather than just borrowing genre trappings. It knows exactly what kind of film it is from the opening scene, and never loses that thread. A 6/10 rating says what the writing already makes obvious: this one works. Charlie Sheen leads a cast that never lets the concept overwhelm the characters. There is no real reason to keep putting it off — it is right there on Hoopla.

Whatever else is competing for your attention this week, The Arrival is worth clearing space for. The Arrival treats its concept seriously enough to follow it all the way through. Zane Ziminski is an astrophysicist who receives a message that seems to have extraterrestrial origins. Eerily soon after his discovery, Zane is fired. He then embarks on a search to determine the origins of the transmission that leads him into a Hitchcockian labyrinth of paranoia and intrigue. Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Crouse lead a cast that brings real weight to the material. It was released in 1996. What separates The Arrival from lesser genre entertainment is a willingness to let the concept cost the characters something. It knows exactly what it is, and does not try to be anything else.

Viewers burned by ambitious sci-fi that could not sustain its premise should give The Arrival a chance. It does not lean on comparisons to make its case. Short enough to finish in one sitting, substantial enough to feel satisfying. Charlie Sheen's performance is the anchor the more ambitious moments need. The world-building pays off in ways you will not anticipate on a first watch.