Steampunk Granny Reviews The Arrival

                                                        

 

Yes, my little zombie snacks, it was another night of night being able to unwind enough to fall asleep. My youngest grandson, Nathan had spent a few days with me over the Labor Day weekend. We had a meeting with Chris Eilenstine, the director of Shadows of the Forest. Nathan has a bit part in the film in which I am also one of the writers...neat, right? We met two of the main stars that day Mac Lowery and Brandon Allentoff. It was a lot of fun, but a long day, and hence, the reason we were up late and caught this film.

 

The 1996 science fiction film, directed by David Twohy and starring Charlie Sheen, Ron Silver, Lindsay Crouse, Teri Polo and Richard Schiff is an alien encounter film that deals with global climate change. No, it’s not about the Republican and Tea Party politicians who are constantly denying man’s direct effects on the world around us...but it could be why they are denying that there is a problem. They might be aliens.

Plot

Charlie Sheen plays Zane Zaminsky, a radio astronomer working for SETI, discovers evidence of intelligent alien life forms. The signal is coming from a star that is 14 light years from Earth. When he reports this to his boss (Ron Silver) he doesn’t believe him. It isn’t long before Zane is fired. He gets a job installing television satellite dishes and creates his own version of a SETI array.                                           

                                                            
Zane isn’t the only one noticing that the planet is going through some major warming. A climatologist, Ilana Green (Lindsay Crouse) finds a poppy field in the middle of the Arctic. Zane and Ilana figure out that someone is purposely melting the polar ice and it might have to do with the radio signals that Zane has been intercepting

Conclusion

I love Ron Silver in just about any show that he is in, but Charlie Sheen’s performance was a bit flat. The film was positively received when it came out and it could be because the special effects and the storyline were impressive.

                                                             

                                                     

Look, it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to know our planet is in big trouble. We don’t have to be scientists either to see with our own eyes what we’re doing to our planet. Sea levels are rising, temperatures are rising, which affects our crops, oceans are warming which will eventually kill the fish, we’re experiencing more extreme weather conditions, rising temperatures could contribute to the spread of diseases, loss of livestock and crops. I think for a science fiction film, The Arrival, covered most of this, which was impressive to me as a concerned citizen of this planet.

                                                       

                                                    

In the film, the aliens had taken over most positions of power, which helped them to deny that there was anything wrong with the melting ice caps and, since our own politicians keep denying climate change, I’ve been wondering if maybe Congress has been taken over by aliens. What do you think?

                                                        
Watch The Arrival. I think you’ll like it in spite of Charlie Sheen.