This is going to be somewhat of a difficult review as my rating is based on hypotheticals... let me explain that:
This movie is very familiar in the sense that the "groundhog day" concept has been beaten to death, then you wake up and it's beaten to death, then you wake, etc... however I felt ARQ did an amazing job of realizing this, and ushered us into the story line of continuous time-loops relatively fast and efficient, while still keeping me intrigued to the background story taking place. There is a lot of information and history left to the imagination which will definitely turn viewers away, though I personally found quite refreshing. They stuck to the main story line without jam packing a compendium of background knowledge into the film. The acting was great, the set was limited to a house which really created an intimate environment for the viewer, and the film pulled off a cliché story while maintaining a certain level of uniqueness.
This is where the hypotheticals come in to play: If this was the pilot episode for a new TV series setting up a story line for an entire season (one in which the time-loop was resolved early and didn't play-out all season) then this would be flipping fantastic, and would have every viewer intrigued and ready to watch the next episode. As you would expect in a really great pilot episode, the ending left me smiling while simultaneously giving the finger to my TV screen. If a second episode was out, no way I'd be choosing to write this instead of finding out what comes next. However, this wasn't a pilot episode, it was a movie. Which kind of changes my tune a bit, and leaves me still giving the finger to my TV, though without the accompaniment of a smile. I really hope they somehow expand on this with a sequel, or turn it into a TV show, but those are hypotheticals.
I still choose to give this a higher rating, because it could be the beginning of something awesomely awesome. If I were you, I'd give it a watch and see for yourself... Here's to OPTIMISM!!
This movie is very familiar in the sense that the "groundhog day" concept has been beaten to death, then you wake up and it's beaten to death, then you wake, etc... however I felt ARQ did an amazing job of realizing this, and ushered us into the story line of continuous time-loops relatively fast and efficient, while still keeping me intrigued to the background story taking place. There is a lot of information and history left to the imagination which will definitely turn viewers away, though I personally found quite refreshing. They stuck to the main story line without jam packing a compendium of background knowledge into the film. The acting was great, the set was limited to a house which really created an intimate environment for the viewer, and the film pulled off a cliché story while maintaining a certain level of uniqueness.
This is where the hypotheticals come in to play: If this was the pilot episode for a new TV series setting up a story line for an entire season (one in which the time-loop was resolved early and didn't play-out all season) then this would be flipping fantastic, and would have every viewer intrigued and ready to watch the next episode. As you would expect in a really great pilot episode, the ending left me smiling while simultaneously giving the finger to my TV screen. If a second episode was out, no way I'd be choosing to write this instead of finding out what comes next. However, this wasn't a pilot episode, it was a movie. Which kind of changes my tune a bit, and leaves me still giving the finger to my TV, though without the accompaniment of a smile. I really hope they somehow expand on this with a sequel, or turn it into a TV show, but those are hypotheticals.
I still choose to give this a higher rating, because it could be the beginning of something awesomely awesome. If I were you, I'd give it a watch and see for yourself... Here's to OPTIMISM!!