ARQ (Tony Elliott)

[Stay Puft]

ARQ
Dir. Tony Elliott

http://i.imgur.com/dScUlP5.jpg

IMDb page (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5640450/)

[Stay Puft]

A slick, fast-paced, lo-fi piece of sci-fi, superficially entertaining as it twists and turns but comes crumbling apart when you stop to think about it for two seconds.

I'm not familiar with Elliott's work on Orphan Black, though some of my friends are big fans. This film is just sorta forgettable so whatever.

edit - The only part I don't get, sincerely, is why is there a robot at the end. Why was that necessary. Why was that decision made, knowing the budget. Why was that not left on the cutting room floor. I actually expected soldiers or something to come through the door but nope, big explosion and the door flies of the hinges and we Syfy now.

[Skitch]

I thought this was a total gem in the rough. The end reveal of what is fully going on was nicely dark. Not sure why the robot thing was an issue? It wasn't integral to the plot or anything.

[Irish]

I liked this. It was short and sweet and didn't waste my time.

I'm at the point where I'm starting to find anything with a Groundhog Day-style premise to be a little tedious, but this film was clever in the way it changed things up from one scene to the next. Every reveal was perfectly placed.

I also liked the ending, when they go outside, and the way the final shot is dark but still somehow hopeful.

Outside the screen, the most amazing thing about this movie was how quickly it was turned around. After years in development hell, Netflix called the writer-director and offered to produce. The movie was announced in January and premiered at Toronto in September. A couple of weeks later and it's streaming. All for under $2 mil. That's seriously fucking impressive.

[Skitch]

I'm at the point where I'm starting to find anything with a Groundhog Day-style premise to be a little tedious, but this film was clever in the way it changed things up from one scene to the next. Every reveal was perfectly placed.


Agreed. This is probably second only to Edge of Tomorrow in that Groundhog style premise, but I need to rewatch that one.

The more I thought about that third act, the more I liked the movie. I had a tough time wrapping my head around when they went outside, but I think I figured it out.

They've been doing this for thousands of cycles. Outside their bubble, more than likely the world has ended and everyone is dead. If they go outside it, they would be in the present, an apocalypse wasteland. If they stay inside and keep repeating, eventually they may be able to save the world. Each time they repeat, they get a few more seconds of information.

So twisted, I dig it.

[Irish]

They've been doing this for thousands of cycles. Outside their bubble, more than likely the world has ended and everyone is dead. If they go outside it, they would be in the present, an apocalypse wasteland. If they stay inside and keep repeating, eventually they may be able to save the world. Each time they repeat, they get a few more seconds of information.

Yes! This part was terrific. It was low budget, but I loved the visual of the bubble/border and all the ideas around that.

Another favorite: When and how they discover the "error log" that shows all the aborted cycles. Freaky.

[Irish]

To Stay Puft's points, the only time I felt it leaned to much toward a cheap "SyFy" feel was when the characters talked internal politics about the different factions. Those parts were hackneyed and dull. I couldn't have cared less about some corporate machine vs scrappy freedom fighters. I mostly wanted to see the guy get the girl, the two of them save their own asses, and then save the world.

Dumb dialogue with made up names in made up dialogue always sounds like gibberish to me: "The Testsahuma Corporate Control Forces are on their way! They'll be here in 300 seconds!" "But that's impossible! The Grubnok Rebellion will be slaughtered! They won't have time to escape the Eastern States Freezone!"

Yeah, whatever, screenwriter.

[Skitch]

To Stay Puft's points, the only time I felt it leaned to much toward a cheap "SyFy" feel was when the characters talked internal politics about the different factions. Those parts were hackneyed and dull. I couldn't have cared less about some corporate machine vs scrappy freedom fighters. I mostly wanted to see the guy get the girl, the two of them save their own asses, and then save the world.

Dumb dialogue with made up names in made up dialogue always sounds like gibberish to me: "The Testsahuma Corporate Control Forces are on their way! They'll be here in 300 seconds!" "But that's impossible! The Grubnok Rebellion will be slaughtered! They won't have time to escape the Eastern States Freezone!"

Yeah, whatever, screenwriter.

Yeah, you're not wrong. But I did feel some sort of explanation of the scope of the outside war was important to sell that moment of "the entire outside world is fucked"

[Skitch]

Another note, I only know Robbie Amell from The Arrow (where hes fairly wooden), and i was skeptical that he had the chops to carry a movie, but damn if he didn't do a fine job! Not a homerun or anything, but didn't have that wooden feel imo.

[Irish]

Yeah, you're not wrong. But I did feel some sort of explanation of the scope of the outside war was important to sell that moment of "the entire outside world is fucked"

Oh, yeah--absolutely agree. I just wish they could have done that in a more engaging way. My eyes glaze over when characters spout fake place names, etc. It always sounds so contrived.

On the SyFy touch: I avoid the channel for the usual reasons, but this past year I checked out Killjoys and The Expanse based on reviews and recommendations. Both have great qualities, but I eventually tuned out because the bullshit political machinations were so boring.


Another note, I only know Robbie Amell from The Arrow (where hes fairly wooden), and i was skeptical that he had the chops to carry a movie, but damn if he didn't do a fine job! Not a homerun or anything, but didn't have that wooden feel imo.

Haha, can I tell you? I stopped watching Arrow awhile ago, but I found Robbie to be really distracting. I had to pause the movie and Google him. He looks just enough like his cousin Stephen that I couldn't tell whether it was the same guy at first.