Review Of The Netflix Movie ‘ARQ’ Plus Robbie Amell Interview [Video]
In the same vein as Live, Die, Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow, comes the Netflix original movie ARQ. The time loop genre is still fairly new compared to other sub-genres of sci-fi. Movies like Looper have their niche audience, and Groundhog Day transcended the genre. Netflix’s ARQ is a welcomed edition to this collection. This is the perfect movie to watch for a quick 90 minutes of fun entertainment.
The official Netflix page for ARQ shows an audience score of four out of five stars. Rotten Tomatoes doesn’t have a critics score yet for the film, but the audience scores it at 48 percent. The site provides the synopsis for one of the newest movies on Netflix.
“A young couple protecting a revolutionary new energy source are caught in a timeloop, where they relive a violent home invasion on repeat, forcing them into a race against time to break the loop and escape with the technology intact.”
Netflix has released a great deal of original series that overall receive rave reviews. They are starting to make more original movies but they tend to be hit-or-miss. The Do-Over was widely panned by critics, while The Fundamentals of Caring is considered one of the best movies on Netflix. ARQ is somewhere in the middle: not one of the best movies, but it’s still good. It offers little beyond the trailer, but a few twists along the way make it interesting. If you’re in the mood for a sci-fi action movie while you’re folding laundry, then this is the film to watch.
ARQ is now available worldwide on @netflix! #scifi @RobbieAmell @_Rachael_Taylor @shaunmbenson @XYZFilms #lostcity pic.twitter.com/JWUoGDhmCY
— Tony Elliott (@tangoecho) September 16, 2016
ARQ stars Robbie Amell (The Duff, The Flash) and Rachael Taylor (The Loft, Jessica Jones). The pair gives strong performances which helps some redundant scenes. It is a time loop movie so redundancy is unavoidable, but delivery is the key to this genre. In Edge of Tomorrow, the plot builds quickly and the movie wastes little time. Netflix’s ARQ certainly has some unnecessary moments, which often borderlines on comedic, but with it being such a short watch the movie doesn’t drag.
The few twists along the way are somewhat predictable, but the ending is likely to surprise most viewers. As seen in the video below, Amell was recently interviewed and shared his thoughts of this Netflix original movie.
“My worry when I first read it [ARQ script] was okay, am I going to know where everything is going? Because I’ve seen Groundhog Day, because I’ve seen Edge of Tomorrow, I’m like ‘what’s going to separate this?’ He [writer Tony Elliot] found those moments to change things and to make it its own. Tony is incredibly smart and he wanted it to be grounded and to feel real…and that’s what really what pulled me in.”
Amell would go on to speak of his admiration for Tom Cruise and how he is a sci-fi geek.
Amell and Taylor have natural charm that projects through the screen affecting the viewer; the characters are easy to identify and sympathize with. Although good, the script is nothing exceptional, so a strong showing from the cast was essential. No one accused Keanu Reeves of giving an Oscar worthy performance in The Matrix, but the storytelling and plot were perfect, which made Reeves’ dry acting tolerable. This movie has the opposite equation of The Matrix: decent plot with strong performances.
Spending my evening watching @RobbieAmell new movie #ARQ on Netflix! This movie is insane! pic.twitter.com/Yk3MSzukMj
— Stephanie (@StephanieCanuck) September 17, 2016
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Overall, the movie is entertaining and action-packed; sci-fi fans should enjoy this addition to the Netflix originals. Casual audiences may not find it necessary to put this on their “watch list,” but when they get around to seeing ARQ they should find it to be a pleasant thrill ride.
[Featured Image by Netflix]
