Rating: 
Summary: SCI-FI AS IT SHOULD BE...
Review: "The Arrival" was underrated when it was first released, and, as with all good, underrated movies, it has since become a cult favorite. Clever and imaginative, a lot was done on a limited budget to make it into a top notch sci-fi thriller. It has an intelligent and well reasoned story, and the special effects are imaginative. Charlie Sheen, clean and sober, plays radio astronomer, Zane Zaminski, who picks up radio signals that are not earthly. When he takes a copy of the tape of these signals, which he believes to be indicative of intelligent, alien life, to his boss, chillingly played by Ron Silver, he is summarily fired from his job. Suddenly, all is not right with the world. Smelling something real fishy, Zane sets up a home satellite and tries to zero in on the signal. He gets lucky, or unlucky, depending upon how one looks at it, and he picks up the same signal he previously had picked up. It crosses a signal given off by a Mexican radio station, which motivates him to go to Mexico and check it out. While in Mexico, he meets a fellow scientist (Lindsay Crouse), who is there on her own investigation, as she has noted major atmospheric changes, which indicate that global warming is occurring at an alarming rate, almost as if there were a greenhouse effect. Unbeknownst to Zane at the time, her concerns are connected to his. While at a power plant with her, he comes across a doppelganger for his former boss, which sets off alarms in his head. Returning undercover at night, he discovers that the entire plant is operated by aliens, and they are not here just to say hello. There, a series of events transpire to reveal to him an immense, alien plot. Yes, it's the old alien conspiracy story rearing its ugly head. Only this time, it is handled with surprising intelligence. Zane is now on a mission to convey what he knows to the world, but the aliens will stop at nothing to silence him. Will he make it? Watch the film and find out. If you love sci-fi films, you will not be disappointed. "Arrival II", the sequel to "The Arrival", is not in the same league. None of the original cast are in it. Instead,, the viewer gets handsome Patrick Muldoon in the role of Jack Addison, Zane's estranged brother, picking up where Zane left off in the fight against alien invasion. Jack teams up with investigative reporter Bridget Riordan, played with energetic enthusiasm by Jane Sibbert. Together they seek to foil the sinister alien conspiracy that threatens mankind. Lacking the more intelligent script and better production values of "The Arrival", the sequel still manages to entertain. Borrowing some of the original themes and types of special effects, it is played out as more of an action film with a lot of chase scenes. While I did not enjoy it as much as the original, I forgave it some of its faux pas and enjoyed it, nonetheless. All in all, it is an entertaining, sci-fi film. This DVD is really value priced for what one gets. One gets two full length, feature films, both of which are enjoyable. The DVD also gives the viewer the standard production notes, cast and crew bios, as well as a theatrical teaser and trailer. Moreover, the quality of picture and sound is excellent for both films. This is a DVD well worth having in one's collection, if one is a sci-fi fan.
Rating: 
Summary: Arrival 2-bad, but somehow still kind of watchable.
Review: (warning: review will give spoilers for the original The Arrival, a great sci-fi thriller that I enthusiastically recommend) The Arrival II is an unnecessary follow-up to the original, an inventive and suspenseful sci-fi thriller. Of course, unnecessary follow-ups are a rule of thumb, so a sequel to The Arrival seemed pretty inevitable, especially when you consider its ending. Too bad this "continuation" lacks all the qualities of its predecessors, namely in good writing, acting, and inspired direction. I actually purchased the Arrival II on DVD...as it was a double feature with the original. Before I even popped the film in, I was expecting ...from the first minute, so the best thing I can say is that the movie turned out to be a bit more watchable than I expected. The Arrival II is set in Montreal, two months after the events of the original. Radio astronomer Zane Zaminski has died of an apparent heart attack, but he did manage to send out info of the alien invasion to his most trusted colleagues, as well as to his stepbrother, Jack Addison (Patrick Muldoon), and a news reporter (Jane Sibbett, Ross' lesbian ex-wife from Friends). This group becomes the targets of the aliens, until the only survivors are Muldoon and Sibbett, who go on the run together and try to expose the aliens' nefarious plans. The Arrival II suffers distinctly from a lack of freshness, which is much needed in a sequel that's meant to continue a running story. All the material we have here is pretty much repeat. Basically, we know there are aliens out there disguised as human beings and they're whole goal is to terraform the Earth and mold it into an environment suitable for their own colonization. Oh, and let's not forget that spherical object with a strong vacuum pull. Like the original, we've got our "intelligent" protagonist (we find this out because everyone keeps telling him he's smarter than he thinks) and blonde chick that plays as love interest. Problem is, these two are played by Patrick Muldoon and Jane Sibbett, neither of whom I've seen in anything on film or TV that suggests they can act. Muldoon is mostly expressionless, though occasionally has that "whoa, dude" act that would give Freddie Prinze, Jr. a run for his money. Sibbett is simply dreadful as the reporter. Let's put it this way, those who found Courtney Cox unconvincing as Gail Weathers in the Scream series will be shouting "Come back! All is forgiven!" The other performances aren't worth noting, except maybe Catherine Blythe, who gives the movie its sole bit of very gratuitous nudity. The script has little to none of the intelligence of the original and it often mistakes scientific mumbo-jumbo as smart screenwriting. The plot's got a lot of twists and turns, mostly involving a guessing game of who's human and who's not. None of these little revelations are the slightest bit surprising, and they might even induce a few scoffs here and there. The special effects on display range from pretty bad to hilariously awful, the worst bit probably being when one of the aliens reveals its true identity. There are a lot of other clunkers, such as the cheesy-looking holographic displays and the destruction of a power plant in the film's conclusion. Yeah, visual effects themselves usually don't determine a movie's quality, but they sure don't help the film here. Directed by Kevin S. Tenney, the same guy who gave us the fun Night of the Demons, but has yet to have helmed anything worth seeing since then. For some reason, though, The Arrival II is still somewhat watchable (meaning you won't want to stab yourself in the eye), probably because the concept of aliens disguised as humans is intriguing enough on its own. Too bad this suspenseless and absurd sequel can't capitalize on the original's unique ideas.
* 1/2 out of *****
Rating: 
Summary: Arrival - 3 stars...Arrival II - junk! NOT PG13~~ RATED R!
Review: ...these two movies are distinctly different, and only Arrival I is PG13. Arrival II, however, is rated R and contains an unecessary and EXPLICIT SEX scene with full frontal nudity during and after. This had nothing to do with the movie plot and since it was already an enormous flop from the first one, only tended to degrade it worse. If these were separate movies, I'd keep one and trash the other. As it is, I'm stuck for having bought them as a dual dvd. Don't waste your money.
Rating:
Summary: Arrival - 3 stars...Arrival II - junk! NOT PG13~~ RATED R!
Review: ...these two movies are distinctly different, and only Arrival I is PG13. Arrival II, however, is rated R and contains an unecessary and EXPLICIT SEX scene with full frontal nudity during and after. This had nothing to do with the movie plot and since it was already an enormous flop from the first one, only tended to degrade it worse. If these were separate movies, I'd keep one and trash the other. As it is, I'm stuck for having bought them as a dual dvd. Don't waste your money.
Rating: 
Summary: Pleasantly surprised !
Review: After reading the other reviews, I almost did not buy this DVD. But I am glad I did, in spite of all the criticism, I think ARRIVAL 2 is a GOOD picture, perhaps even better than Arrival 1. The high speed car chase, the scenes at the nuclear plant and the attempt to project the hologram in the theatre provide as much suspense as you could possibly want in any good movie. I recommend this DVD to all science fiction fans and I can't understand why it has attracted so many negative comments ! I hope they do an ARRIVAL 3 !
Rating:
Summary: Arrival & Arrival II
Review: Arghh! Arrival was average, but it only gets worse with Arrival II. The acting was horid, and the plot was, hmmm, what was the plot? The ditsy blonde co-star just grinned or giggled the whole time their lives and the world was in jeopardy. Unbelievable. Muldoon simply cannot act, as you could gather right from the beginning of the movie where it was obvious he was forcing himself not to look at the camera. On the other hand, if you like really Bad movies and enjoy picking up on the screw-ups, this one's for you (although not up to the caliber of Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes).
Rating:
Summary: Arrival=excellent, Arrival II=skip it
Review: Arrival is a fantastic movie for the 1990s. It ties in so many threads from the conspiracy culture that developed in the 1990s into a coherent whole. Global warming is the result of intentional "terraforming" of earth by an alien race, planning on conquering Earth. NASA is in on the plot. Any listener to Art Bell will recognize the themes. What a great premise for a movie.
Charlie Sheen plays an engaging, quirky character. He plays a radio astronomer who works for SETI and discovers the plot while listening to the stars one night. Nobody believes him. Everyone thinks he is crazy. But of course, he is not crazy.
Arrival II. Skip it. It is a horrible movie. The plotting is completely formulaic. The characters are wooden. The dialog is pathetic. The film even lacks some of the charm of scifi movies that are so bad they are good as comedy (e.g. Plan 9 from Outerspace).
Rating:
Summary: Arrival is very good sci-fi; Arrival II on the other hand...
Review: Arrival is one of the better sci-fi films of the 90's and deserves 4 stars in my book, but consider the low-budget sequel, Arrival II, a forgettable bonus. The Arrival offers up an engrossing, paranoid and believable storyline involving aliens among us who have sinister plans for the planet, at our expense. Charlie Sheen, despite being relegated to that merely-average-actor purgatory, does a decent job as a radio astronomer working for JPL who discovers an unearthly radio message which leads him to Mexico to uncover the strange secret behind a series of mysterious power plants cropping up in third world countries, and their connection with accelerated global warming. Directory David Twohy does an admirable job with the special effects considering the low budget. This film got an undeserved bad rap. More realistic than that mindless "Armageddon"/"ID4" Hollywood dross. As for Arrival II, well, it pretty much destroys what could have been a worthy sequel.
Rating:
Summary: only for arrival 2
Review: arrival was an inventive, cool movie worthy of 5 stars. however, arrival 2 is NOT. the nudity and "intimate scenes" *snicker* of that really unattractive woman were certainly unnecessary. what exactly was this movie about? where were the aliens with the scarey legs that were so great from the first movie? the only way they can sell this piece of garbage is to include it on a DVD with something else. do yourself a favour and just buy the arrival by itself.
Rating: 
Summary: Where's The PLOT?
Review: Arrival was well constructed and had a plot or at least a basic plot. The acting was very well done. Now; as for Arrival 2, it would have been best for them (writers)to have remained back in another galaxy far far far away. Patrick has done much better work in the past. The visual effects were well (the scene where Patrick attempts to smash through the locked glass doors has a sense of humor. The glass door had obviously been scared! The glass door is cracked and ready to shatter before it is assaulted by Patrick's panicking throw. (Film editors miss) The writer could learn a little something from successful screen writers of such films as Alien and it's follow ups or the nightmare on Elm streets (excluding part 2 the worst). Keeping with the original story line and still able to make it a completely separate individualized movie worthy of its predecessor. Well better luck next time if you dare. It really had potential of becoming a brilliant successor. Write and learn.
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