An entertaining post-apocalyptic thriller with smart and reckless survivors.
“Arcadian” is an action horror movie that also works as a family drama. The father lives in a remote farmhouse with his twin sons-one of them more responsible than the other-and something otherworldly has created their post-apocalyptic world. That’s our assumption on what went wrong, while there’s a little game about guessing how the world came to an end.
The rules are simple for this main family. They gather food and supplies, they do their chores and leisures, and they must be home by nightfall with the house barricaded. They’re all hunted by alien monsters who don’t have sensitive hearing like in “A Quiet Place,” but can’t survive the daytime. So they must hunt humans at night. At least, they don’t have to whisper all the time.
These creatures are often too fast for the human kind to comprehend, but I have gotten some things out of them. They’re furry and flexible, they can form a giant wheel to pursue their victims, and they can chomp faster than a coke head playing “Hungry Hungry Hippos.” They could be a little less hap-hazardous, but they are interesting, and I think the film should have taken its time to allow us to study these creatures.
Besides, it’s the human characters who levitate “Arcadian.” Nicolas Cage plays the old man Paul, who raises his twin boys Joseph (Jaeden Martell) and Thomas (Maxwell Jenkins) on their farm, using whatever skills they have to keep surviving in this world. Joseph follows his father’s instructions and fixes up contraptions in their shed. For example: he and his dad fix up a little vehicle. And Thomas is more reckless, because he comes home late after spending time with his crush Charlotte (Sadie Soverall), who is from another tribe of survivors.
There are also moments of danger and depth, like how Thomas’ foolish choices cause turmoil for the family. But in my opinion, I prefer how Paul raises his boys over how Jake Sully did in “Avatar: The Way of Water.” Even this old man doesn’t say: “You brought shame on this family,” because who says that anymore? And there is tension between the brothers, especially when Joseph scolds him.
“Arcadian” needs to be a bit more patient with its screenplay (written by Michael Nilon, who has collaborated with Cage before in movies like the awful “Left Behind” and the satirical “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent”), but it does blend the genres with humanity. It wants to be its own “Quiet Place” without trying so hard, it’s interested in its lead characters, and it wants to take such menacing creatures and actually want to bunker down. This movie is unpredictable with its action and horror sequences, and it’s honest in its own representation of survivors after the end of the world. How inventory must be balanced and how they must live their lives.
Cage delivers a fine performance as the father, while both Martel and Jenkins both ignite the screen with their differences and how everyone connects with each other in the story. Whatever happens, they’re all able to convince us of their fears and reactions, which makes them committed to the story.
We’re getting the prequel “A Quiet Place: Day One” this summer, so either “Arcadian” is a little warm up, or if that prequel is crappy, this is the better choice. Either way, I enjoyed this movie for what it wants to be. Lock your doors at night. I know I would.
