Director: Tony Elliott. Starring: Robbie Amell, Rachael Taylor, Shaun Benson, Gray Powell, Jacob Neayem. USA, Canada, 2016. IMDB: 6.4. Budget: about $2 mln. Box office: Netflix! My rating: 2.5/4. Timelooped sci-fi thriller.
– He has apples.
– Nobody has apples anymore.
– He does.
(the military guys)
– I was ordered to recover an energy turbine. Apparently, it’s a time machine.
(Sonny)
Netflix seems to be definitely interested in taking some part of the low- and mid- budget sci-fi pie (I have recently reviewed 2017 Netflix-distributed film “What Happened to Monday?“).
The plot. “ARQ” is another try to fool around with the famous Groundhog Day effect, now in a very limited space. Through just few strokes and accidentally heard TV news it seems that the diminishing amount of fuel becomes the cause of armed conflicts in the world in a not so distant future. We just have the vague picture of what is happening as only in last minutes the story gets out of the appartment, where a young couple tries to protect an innovative machine that could possibly change the concept of producing energy. But as they wake up in their bedroom, the house gets assaulted by strangers in masks and they got killed. Seconds later, they wake up again at the same place and time and the situation repeats as they try to find the way out of the loop to save the machine.
Welcome in the company of groundhogs!
What I liked. The movie is tensely filmed and certainly doesn’t leave you bored. With each loop (and there are a loooooooooooooooooot of them), more and more details are revealed and characters seem more complex than before, multiplying and stratifying. It’s fast paced, so you don’t have too much time to think over inconsistencies of the plot. There are also enough plot twists to keep you interested and they’re well done.
What I didn’t like. The problems arise with the casting of the main characters – unfortunately Robbie Amell does not have the drama of Jake Gyllenhall (who did a great time-loop sci-fi “Source Code“) or the wry humour of Bill Murray (“Groundhog Day“) and Rachael Taylor is not as sensitive and brutal as Emily Blunt (from another time-loop gem “Edge of Tomorrow“) and honestly was quite annoying. Amell at least tries to look trustworthy, but Taylor… most of her acting consists of a slightly open mouth and widened eyes. Considering that 98% of the movie is shot in just several rooms and everything is pretty minimal, that can be a little annoying. The right chemistry here is missing. I saw her in Marvel’s “Jessica Jones” and she was much better there. Fortunately, the wild team of the unknown militaries compensate that well with more charismatic Shaun Benson and Gray Powell.
The main gimmick is used too much – the movie lasts barely 90 minutes and that is not much, but almost all of the time we see the same time-loop in different variations. As we all know, exemplary exercises in minimalism are so difficult to comply. “ARQ” is no exception – though it tries pedantically. As many noted, if cut by half it would be an great episode of something like “Black Mirror“.
The production. “ARQ” is a full-lentgh debut for Tony Elliott, who was mostly a screenwriter before (including highly popular “Orphan Black” and the TV series “12 Monkeys“). However, he originated the idea long time before that in 2008. The budget was under $2 million and the film was shot in 19 days in Toronto.
Worth watching? While “ARQ” is certainly not a new word in the genre and does not reach the heights set by its predecessors, in first place due to a lack of chemistry of the main characters, but it can still be entertaining and fun to watch. There are much worse time paradox films like “Triangle” (which was just ridiculous). So, maybe give it a try. Just don’t expect it to be some groundbreaking sci-fi relevation, okay?
Acting: 2.5/4
Directing: 3/4
Originality: 2.5/4
Pathos level: low
Final vote: 2.5/4
Watch also: “Source Code” is definitely a much better time-loop film that I absolutely love, and it still keeps things minimal. “Edge of Tomorrow” is an awesome blockbuster with a shitload of irony, highly recommended even for those who can’t stant Com Truise. And, of course, don’t forget “Groundhog Day“, which was recently ressurected as a musical (read about it + some curious little known facts about the film here).
I thought this looked interesting and have it on my Netflix list. Glad it seems worthwhile.
“most of her acting consists of a slightly open mouth and widened eyes”. I think she did an awfy lot of that in Jessica Jones, too. Must be her thing.
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Trust me, she was much better in JJ… At least she had her radio sessions there and had more people to interact with, here due to the very nature of the film it obviously doesn’t work.
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… admittedly, I didn’t find her bad… just that she had a thing she did. A lot.
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Yep, for that role it was suitable!
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How did you like JJ and other Marvel TV series, btw?
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I really liked JJ, enjoyed both seasons of Daredevil a lot and I’ve yet to watch the rest of Luke Cage (halfway through). That’s all I’ve managed so far.
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What about you?
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I have watched all seasons of everything, except for Iron Fist which I have no intention to watch! Everything was amazing, except I had some minor complaints (like I didn’t get why Fisk is so powerful while in fact he was just a fat and rich guy… I am exaggerating, but u got me).
The second season of Daredevil was cool, but all that stuff with the Hand wasn’t really interesting.
My favourite is Luke Cage. It had an incredible casting choices and I found out many new actors. What I particularly liked was that the story was less about superpowers and more about normal people.
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That’s definitely one of the strengths of Luke Cage from what I’ve seen. I reckon The Punisher will prove to be my favourite… no superpowers… just a bad ass anti-hero.
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The Punisher will be awesome! 😊 His appearance in Daredevil was incredible.
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A friend is halfway through it and says it’s pretty great.
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I’d even say he is the best thing since Marvel launched their TV series.
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From his appearance in Daredevil I’d have to agree!
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Yes, that one. What do you think of Fisk? Is (was?) he a plausible villain?
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I like him… very rigid and menacing. I’m looking forward to seeing more of him.
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Great post! I’ve seen this one a while back and found it to be okayish. It certainly wasn;t bad, but there were quite a few things left out in the open. That said I did enjoy it, and certainly felt it was not a waste of my time in any way 😊
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Me too, man, it was a sturdy nice flick, nothing special, but still enjoyable 😊
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This actually played at TIFF 2 years ago.
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Really? That’s weird. There’s nothing outstanding in this film, although I liked it slightly more than you… (plus I rate movies only withing the sci-fi genre).
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I went into Arc with low expectations and came out really happy. For a low budget piece of sci-fi it hit all the right spots for me. Fast paced and exciting. If it wasn’t on Netflix I probably wouldn’t have watched it but it filled a good slot whilst eating my din dins 🙂
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Yes, films like that are perfect for a low-expectation day 😃 Still, I didn’t like the female lead 😣
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Haha “low-expectation day ” I like that 🙂
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