Arcadian

Don't watch this move right after you eat something. The super shaky camera work could make you sick. 5 minutes into the movie I could not bear it. Just too uncomfortable.

The story line is easy and straightforward: people try to stay alive after some sort of apocalypse.

What is missing from the movie is the horror and the family dynamics. You either make the move very scary or you focus on the family and the bonding. Or make both the focus. However, this movie does not have enough either. Turns out the movie becomes boring and losing focus. So people can easily predict what's to come in the next 3 minutes.

It could be much better if they add some mysteries to the creatures. What causes the apocalypse is not that important to me.

A father and his twin sons have survived the end of the world for fifteen years. As teenagers, the boys have grown into young men and become independent and rambunctious. As they quarrel and go their separate ways one day, their lives are threatened again, and they must fight for survival.

This is a simple end-of-the-world, post-apocalypse survival movie. The story gets straight to the point, giving little to no backstory on the characters or what caused the world's end. There is not a lot of action and a bit of suspense. The runtime of the movie is short. This might not be worth watching in theaters, but it is worth streaming.

There's a place for shaky, hand-held camera-work. The opening scene to Saving Private Ryan, for example, is a masterpiece. Here, however, it's merely annoying. For much of the film it takes the viewer out of the narrative, as they struggle to work out what exactly is going on. I might add that the shaky camera-work even makes a pointless return for the closing credits.

Set in the near future, when most of humanity has been wiped out by an unspecified cause; and where the few survivors are obliged to barricade themselves indoors during the hours of darkness, as they are under attack from strange alien creatures, the film centres on Nicholas Cage, who lives with his twin teenage sons (Jaeden Martell and Maxwell Jenkins) and survive by foraging and subsistence. Another, larger, family group lives a short distance away. Both families keep livestock, which seem to be immune from nocturnal attack, for no apparent reason.

Cage fades from the narrative for a long stretch, and the film is carried by the two boys plus Sadie Soverall as the daughter of the neighbours. All three turn in solid performances, but are done no favours by the tissue-thin (and hole-ridden) plot, listless dialogue and woeful camera-work. Quite apart from the shakiness, it's often difficult to work out what exactly is going on. Yes, most of the dramatic scenes take place in darkness, but there are ways of making it possible to follow the action.

As an aside, a quick check of the the current ages of the juvenile leads, compared to their on-screen appearance, suggests that this film was shot at least four years ago, and has spent most of the intervening time in post-production hell, as the editors tried to get something coherent out of what they had. I presume they did their best.

The creatures themselves are great when they're unseen or only hinted at. When they make a fuller appearance, however, they're very disappointing.

A watch-and-forget film.

Well, I like to think director Benjamin Brewer (best known for directing music videos and leading the VFX efforts for Everything Everywhere All at Once) had a few neat tricks up his sleeve while conjuring up this creature-feature starring Nic Cage. It has a pretty interesting first act that reminded me of films like A Quiet Place and It Comes At Night, with Cage being the difference-maker.

I'd see anything with Cage in it at this point - heck, I've watched all his bad DTV-movies when was going through a career slump in the 2010s before reinventing himself towards the end of the decade. I just enjoyed seeing him turning into a red-hot act once again. Arcadian evidently descends into a B-horror territory, with deliberate campiness in the presentation of the creatures and a plot that only gives away bits and pieces of its lead characters. The action is layered with some shaky cam, just so that the creatures' appearance isn't entirely given away; that's a creative decision I can applaud. That said, the plot advancement remains utterly predictable.

It's an okayish affair that progressively sees less involvement from Cage, but they establish the brothers' equation fairly well for us to believe in their survival journeys. Jaeden Martell (from It), especially, is a promising talent. A needless love angle is also introduced, only to bring more characters that the monsters can munch on. I'm also curious how the dog in the film survived the whole ordeal, though I'm glad he did :)

If you like dystopian sci-fi thrillers, this is a lovely little film. Fans of 28 Days Later and The Monster will appreciate this for what it is - good entertainment. It's not going to change your life, but it's a post-apocalyptic monster movie made with love and a lot of attention to detail.

Nicholas Cage plays it subtle and the mostly newcomer cast are, quite frankly, great. It's bleak, and it's scary enough to give you a buzz. The monsters are really original and the whole thing makes for a delightful little independent movie.

Personally, I hope there is a sequel - the world painted here is worth living in ... provided you bring a shot gun.