![]() I believe that for myself as I do for humanity. That we will change for the better, as long as we never give up. It’s about believing that we can change, if we keep trying. ARQ is a story about fighting for what matters, no matter the odds or the obstacles. And like them both I know what it’s like to keep trying - yet keep failing. And like the co-lead, Hannah, I know what it’s like to strive to be better. Like the lead character Renton, I know what it’s like to be trapped in a cycle of self-destructive behavior. From the political to the personal we keep making the same choices - and the same mistakes - over and over again. And while we’re in unprecedented territory, history repeats. Some days the world feels frenetic and spiralling out of control. The times we’re in now seem particularly precarious politically, environmentally and socially. As Elliott told Filmmaker Magazine:ĪRQ is a personal story about hope. However, ARQ still feels like a well-studied film attempting to honor genre conventions while also tweaking them, employing the time loop device in service to a character drama with sci-fi trappings.Įlliott would prefer we think of it as a story about hope which just happens to feature a time loop, a two-hander about a reunited girl and guy with baggage to work through and differing world views but also unmistakable mutual affection and attraction. Writer-director Tony Elliott, making his feature film debut after writing for TV ( Orphan Black, Hunters), claims to have written his script several years before either Edge of Tomorrow or Source Code came out, and films like Children of Men and Red Road were just as influential on him as Groundhog Day or Primer. Plus, ARQ actually has multiple plot twists, all of which challenge the central character’s assumptions about his situation and continually elevate the tension while also heightening the interpersonal conflict. Obviously, I can’t tell you what the twist is. Also, thanks to Source Code and Edge of Tomorrow they’re not the first to take a strictly sci-fi (the loop is happening because of a time displacement machine the main character creator) instead of fantasy (as in Groundhog Day or About Time ) approach to the genre.īut then that first twist happens, and, holy shit, there might be more to ARQ after all. If you want to do a time loop story you have to do something new with it, and while ARQ gets points for its immediacy, i.e., dropping us straight into the story, that’s not enough to set it apart from its various cinematic predecessors. However, l argely due to overuse on various TV shows we are now so familiar with the time loop storytelling trope that you can’t simply just pull a Groundhog Day anymore and call it good. That’s probably not the type of quote Netflix is looking for in reviews of ARQ, the streaming giant’s latest original movie. ![]() Then he wakes right back up in that same bed at the same exact time of the morning, with mere moments to spare before the assailants storm his room and the whole thing happens again. However, the man will not be intimidated, and quickly hatches a plan to take out his would-be attackers. The masked assailants want something he’s not willing to give, and he only has 5 minutes to change his mind. ![]() The next thing the man knows he’s in his own work room, tied to a chair back-to-back with his girlfriend. Before he has a chance to wake her up, three masked men break down his bedroom door and knock him out. He quickly checks the clock on his nightstand before rolling over to admire the beauty of the girl (Rachael Taylor) sleeping next to him. A guy (Robbie Amell) suddenly awakes in his bed, fully dressed and on top of the covers.
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