Review of ARQ (2016) by Hmf_47 — 15 Sep 2016

Somehow, ARQ manages to be overwritten and underwritten at the same time. It goes out of its way to explain a bunch of convoluted mumbo jumbo (it seems like the writers have never heard of the "show, don't tell" rule), but it never bothers to develop themes, characters and plot. Since we never actually see what's going on, or the characters' motivations beyond "saving the world", it's hard to get invested. There's no sense of escalation, urgency or menace.

The action scenes consist just of Mexican standoffs and people throwing at each others' backs, so things get very old very quickly.

Considering that she was given a paper-thin character to work with, Rachel Taylor was actually pretty good. She brought an intensity that made the movie more watchable than it deserved. Robbie Amell was fine, even though I don't buy him as a genius engineer. I felt bad for both of them because the script never allows them to do something interesting. The villains, on the other hand, have the personality of a wet cardboard.

It's nothing you haven't seen before and better executed in Edge of Tomorrow. If it wasn't for Taylor and Amell's effort, I'd give this one a zero.