movie reelist poster placeholder

ARQ

Coming Soon

I thought I would “Netflix and chill” this evening and stumbled upon ARQ, a dystopian thriller exclusive to Netflix and the feature debut from Orphan Black screenwriter Tony Elliot. It is available to stream today.

ARQ opens to Renton (Robbie Amell) and Hannah (Rachael Taylor) amidst a home invasion from scavenging raiders. The couple – living in a dystopian future where an energy crisis and war between an evil conglomerate called the Torus and a rebellious group known as the Bloc has ravaged Earth to the point of near-extinction – are trapped in an accidental time-loop of Renton’s creation. Renton’s invention – the A.R.Q. or Arcing Recursive Quine – was built to provide infinite self-perpetuating free energy for the World but is somehow looping time back on itself as a side effect. Renton and Hannah find themselves in a race against time to protect the ARQ from Torus mercenaries and save humanity from extinction.

ARQ regrettably lacks the elements (and budget) that made the similar Edge of Tomorrow movie starring Tom Cruise so memorable. Elliot attempts to distinguish his film by shedding repetitive events from previous time loops for emphasis on character and storytelling, but in doing so he subtracts the fun of the genre. What’s left is a well-written albeit unmemorable film with an irritating cliffhanger conclusion. ARQ is vastly superior to anything the streaming giant is producing with Adam Sandler, but this genre film doesn’t equal the quality or engagement of Netflix’s original series slate.

ARQ is streaming now on the following services:
Movie Reelist Contributor: Chris Giroux
Chris Giroux is founder and editor-in-charge at Movie Reelist, an entertainment news and review blog serving the most fanatic moviegoers. Chris started his publication in Detroit in 2010 and has since reviewed hundreds of films and interviewed numerous talent across the country. He is an avid film festival attendee and red carpet photographer, having shot the likes of Steven Spielberg, Bill Murray, Mark Hamill, and more. Chris grew up in New Mexico, where he studied mass media writing while working in post-production and multimedia authoring. It is also where he discovered Big Trouble in Little China and Escape from New York, resulting in an unhealthy Kurt Russell obsession.

Leave a comment...