directed by : david n . twohy written by : david n . twohy cast : charlie sheen ( zane ziminski ) , ron silver ( phil gordian ) , lindsay crouse ( ilana green ) , teri polo ( char ) , tony t . johnson ( kiki ) , richard schiff ( calvin leon rippy ) produced by : orion films rating : * * * 1/2 run time : approx . 115 minutes despite having charlie sheen as its lead ( with a goatee , no less , and as a radio astronomer . eww ! ) and a tacky environmental message , the arrival is a nicely paced movie with good special effects that don't yell " big budget " in your face the whole time you're watching it . sheen plays zane ziminski , an obsessive paranoic scientist who along with his partner ( richard schiff ) records a clear radio transmission from space one night . despite initial rejoicing , things don't develop the way you'd expect when the authorities receive evidence of this transmission . ziminski gets fired , his partner gets killed and suddenly the whole world's just a heck of a lot more complicated for ziminski than he likes . it's hard to say what else happens without giving everything away . trying to track and reconfirm the same signal he received , ziminski builds a makeshift satellite while masquerading as a cable man ( i guess there are more than just movie stars on cable vision ! ) , and his discoveries soon lead him to an ominous-looking plant in mexico . there he meets an environmentalist whose work is increasingly troubling in its extraordinary reports on the earth's atmostphere . the story probably sounds a little cliched , but the arrival is a better movie than usual , and recent , alien fare like independence day , or species . this is because it develops , and keeps to , an almost believable storyline , one that engages the viewer continually as it reveals information in various steps throughout the movie . director twohy , who was a screenwriter for alien 3 and the fugitive , also does a good job of building and maintaining suspense , preferring wisely not to just rely on the special effects team for impressing its audience . all in all , i'd say this movie's worth its s$7 ticket . hey , anything that makes me want to watch it through despite having charlie sheen in its lead role is worth seven bucks . the flying inkpot rating system : * wait for the tv2 broadcast . * * a little creaky , but still better than staying at home with gotcha ! * * * pretty good , bring a friend . * * * * amazing , potent stuff . * * * * * perfection . see it twice . <hr>this movie review was written for the flying inkpot : an arts and entertainment magazine from singapore . current film reviews can be found at : <a href= " http : //www . inkpot . com/film/<hr> " >http : //www . inkpot . com/film/<hr></a> 
