![]() ARQ is now available for viewing on Netflix. ![]() ![]() Fans of sci-fi thrillers as well as environmentalists should eat this one up. ARQ is a pretty traditional time-looper, for the most part, but also one that delivers a very distinct and important message: we must make every effort to prevent large corporations from ruining our planet. There is a long list of time-loop films ranging from the quirky comedy Groundhog Day to the recent alien invasion entry Edge of Tomorrow. Daniel Grant’s cameras draw viewers into a shadowy, hot-house world where nothing is what it first appears to be and the plentiful violence that plays out in each time loop is quite graphic. The score by composing partners Keegan Jessamy and Bryce Mitchell is evocative and heightens the suspense with every measure. The leads, Amell ( The Flash) and Taylor ( Jessica Jones) do a creditable job in fleshing out their characters particularly as they are continually kept off balance and challenged by a script as protean as this one is. The claustrophobic nature of the oppressively darkened set enhances the dramatic tension as the small cast plays out a storyline that changes with every time loop reboot. In other words, ARQ and its plausible future world might be an under-the-radar winner when it premieres on Netflix September 16.Writer/director Tony Elliott ( Orphan Black) spins a taut tale shot almost entirely in a single series of rooms in Renton’s house. At his side is Rachael Taylor, one of the bright spots of Netflix’s Jessica Jones. The Flash veteran Amell is a talented actor with range, and watching his journey from lab nerd to unlikely hero just might be worth two hours of your time. This is Elliot’s feature film debut, but he’s stacked the cast with some solid leads. It’s up to the duo - who get stuck in an unending loop of clue hunting and getting murdered - to put an end to the raid and help save the world.įortunately for potential audiences, the story comes from the mind of Tony Elliot, an accomplished screenwriter and Orphan Black vet. Of course, that’s probably why some militant dicks are interested in murdering the engineers and doing God knows what with the energy source. Where the fiction part comes in is the humming metal chamber in the bowels of the Matrix-themed lab, the contents of which just might supply enough energy to sate the entire world’s needs. Flung a few centuries into the future, that premise isn’t super far-fetched from a real world standpoint. ![]() The society outside the laboratory run by Arrow’s cousin (Robbie Amell) and Jessica Jones’ ass-kicking buddy (Rachael Taylor) is being ripped apart in a world-wide war for the last vestiges of energy on the planet. Still, ARQ might distinguish itself by the world-building at the fringes of its unoriginal plot. Lots of screw ups lead to incremental knowledge and eventually the day is saved and true love is (maybe) won. A bomb on a train ( Source Code), an alien invasion ( Edge of Tomorrow), or just personal decay ( Groundhog Day), the essential premise is the same. We’ve seen this kind of sci-fi disaster-on-loop idea before, too. In a time-looping plot, a man is doomed to repeat his mistakes in an attempt to subvert disaster. Netflix’s new upcoming original science fiction film ARQ creates a horrific dystopia with real-world inspiration meshed with familiar sci-fi tropes. In the future, you might invent something that solves the energy crisis, but just get ready to be stuck in a time-loop for your troubles.
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