In 1993, Harold Ramis' comedic masterpiece Groundhog Day struck cinematic gold with the premise of the protagonist trapped in a time loop, facing the same events over and over again and dealing with them more and more efficiently.
In 2011, Duncan Jones' excellent Source Code put a sci-fi/thriller spin to the premise.
ARQ, the debut of writer/director Tony Elliott, follows Source Code's footsteps but adds another clever twist to the formula. In a war-ravaged future, a scientist and his partner face a group of masked intruders; when he gets killed, he wakes up again right before the attack, stuck in a loop created by a machine he invented. As this happen again and again, he starts elaborating a more effective defence. However, and here's the catch, after a while he isn't the only one remembering previous events.
Multiple loopers? Yeah, that's a neat concept.
Science is wonky; in terms of logic, the plot melts like Mozzarella in a furnace the moment you stop to think about its finer details; in particular, a last minute reveal that should be a REALLY BIG DEAL (the loop is confined to a single area) is completely glossed over. Still, this sci-fi/thriller kept me engaged throughout. It's a small-scale story with only a handful of characters trapped in a single location, but it's fast-paced and compelling.
Also, while the conclusion isn't executed perfectly, I feel the narrative instinct behind it was correct - the kind of ambiguous-but-sort-of-hopeful open ending a better movie like Edge of Tomorrow should also have gone for.
6,5/10
In 2011, Duncan Jones' excellent Source Code put a sci-fi/thriller spin to the premise.
ARQ, the debut of writer/director Tony Elliott, follows Source Code's footsteps but adds another clever twist to the formula. In a war-ravaged future, a scientist and his partner face a group of masked intruders; when he gets killed, he wakes up again right before the attack, stuck in a loop created by a machine he invented. As this happen again and again, he starts elaborating a more effective defence. However, and here's the catch, after a while he isn't the only one remembering previous events.
Multiple loopers? Yeah, that's a neat concept.
Science is wonky; in terms of logic, the plot melts like Mozzarella in a furnace the moment you stop to think about its finer details; in particular, a last minute reveal that should be a REALLY BIG DEAL (the loop is confined to a single area) is completely glossed over. Still, this sci-fi/thriller kept me engaged throughout. It's a small-scale story with only a handful of characters trapped in a single location, but it's fast-paced and compelling.
Also, while the conclusion isn't executed perfectly, I feel the narrative instinct behind it was correct - the kind of ambiguous-but-sort-of-hopeful open ending a better movie like Edge of Tomorrow should also have gone for.
6,5/10