Arcadian

In a dystopian post-apocalyptic future, Earth has been destroyed following an invasion of ferocious creatures, spawned from what the survivors call “the pollution”. For Paul (Nicolas Cage), the protection of his twin sons is paramount. Finding tranquillity on a farm, the family live in peace during the day, but terror by night, barricading the doors in fear of what might attack them through the darkness. When Paul is nearly killed, Thomas (Maxwell Jenkins) and Joseph (Jaeden Martell) must do what they can to save their father’s life while defending the farm from an impending attack from the beasts.

For once, Cage takes a backseat in a movie, with Jenkins and Martell proving to be the real stars of the show. Their brotherly dynamic is pivotal to the plot as their differences are exposed early on despite being twins, and the pair execute their parts to perfection. It makes for a refreshing change to see Nic Cage not go full Nic Cage for once, instead playing the more caring and heartfelt role of the protective father who will do anything for his sons in a world infected with evil. This said, if you are watching this movie to see that typical performance from the actor, then this really isn’t for you.

The premise for Benjamin Brewer’s latest feature, written by Mike Nilon, is reasonably exciting, but it all feels like recycled material. Stranger Things and The Last of Us have set the bar so high when it comes to 21^st-century end-of-the-world thrillers that most projects released today seem doomed to fail from the off, but Brewer does well to build the tension and the anticipation ahead of our first sighting of what creatures hide in the dark. What we do see is absolutely terrifying and worth every second, albeit a little similar to the monsters we have seen in recent television.

As a whole, the generic storyline is all a little thin and flimsy on the ground when paired with the just over 90-minute run time. Arcadian feels like it could have benefited from an extra 20 minutes to flesh out the relationships further and provide answers to unanswered questions.

Then there is the cinematography. Brewer and Frank Mobilio opt for a “shaky cam” approach in an attempt to immerse the viewer into the action, but at times it becomes unwatchable as the camera struggles to focus on anything at all. The lighting is also a huge mistake. The creatures come out at night, but it doesn’t really matter because we can’t see anything anyway. Like other horror movies, you pray for the daytime scenes to signal safety, but in this instance with Arcadian, you eagerly await the sunlight just to be able to see the movie.

Guy Lambert

Arcadian is released in select cinemas on 14^th June 2024.

Watch the trailer for Arcadian here: