Arq 2 netflix12/12/2023 Among other reasons, it would be interesting to see Netflix remake this film with a different cast or now that Amell and Taylor are more experienced and, one hopes, improved as actors.ĪRQ was one of five films that Netflix announced were in production at Sundance in 2016, one of their first major shots across the bow as producers of original films. The film picks up steam, however, when the two are on the run from the baddies and have less emotional acting to wrestle with. They lack chemistry and charisma and for that reason, the opening 20 minutes or so are difficult to get into as this is the part in which we are supposed to believe they´re a loving couple. Put simply, they seem way out of their depth in this film, like actors from commercials who suddenly got a call back for a feature and are struggling to make the transition. The most painfully obvious shortcoming in the film is the acting, which is poor, led especially by Robbie Amell and Rachael Taylor. In short, it´s a pretty good B-movie kammerspiel.īut it is also not a perfect film and the film-makers were not able to silk purses out of all the sow´s ears they were dealt. But these are put to very good effect in the film as the closed house creates claustrophobic tension and the repetitions are well integrated into the film´s plot and themes. Tony Elliott´s script uses the time loop device very effectively to peel back layers of mysteries within mysteries, with each loop revealing crucial information that redirects the plot and brings us closer to a resolution.ĪRQ is also clearly a very cheaply made film with a single set and the time loop making for an excuse to use one set of costumes, etc. At its heart is not a science fiction principle – how the ARQ will save the world is not really that important to the plot, nor is the reason for the time loop – but instead a mystery, or more precisely a set of mysteries that must be solved by Renton and then later Hannah. Yet despite all these red flags, ARQ is actually a pretty watchable and enjoyable film. Adding to the foreboding in the case of ARQ is that it is among the earliest crops of Netflix original fiction films, having been greenlit in early 2016, a time at which Netflix´s reputation as a film producer was very low indeed having only films like The Ridiculous Six to their name as full originals. Like so many others, the setting is a post-apocalyptic dystopia, the action all takes place in a single set and there is that plot device of the time loop that until Russian Doll was only to be found in the Netflix oeuvre in the poorly received comedies Naked and When We First Met. On paper, ARQ has all the hallmarks of a typical, bad Netflix genre movie. To solve the mystery of the time loop and prevent the theft of the potential world-saving invention, the two have to survive the attackers and each other. The couple, it turns out are stuck in a time loop with the home invaders intent on stealing a power source named ARQ that Renton has built. It transpires that strangers are breaking into the house and end up killing Renton only for him to awake again in the same situation. In a post-apocalyptic near future, Renton (Robbie Amell) and Hannah (Rachael Taylor) awake to hear suspicious sounds in the house in which they are staying/trapped due to the toxic air outside of the house. ARQ (Tony Elliott, 2016) – Full Original – Science Fiction
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