NocturneAeros

I was very skeptical when I first saw the (teaser?) trailer to Ark. From a purely aesthetic point of view I'm not a fan of the art style, and story wise, although I'm always happy to see dinosaurs and cool women doing cool stuff, I was worried the story was going to be bland and consensual... Boy was I wrong.

What convinced me to watch it was being told that there was a lesbian main character and that there would be romance... AND THERE IS! But there is also so much more!

The cast is really diverse racially, and not just on a surface level, as a lot of care was put into each character and how their world views are influenced by both their historical/geographic contexts as well as their life experience and own personalities. There is some fantastic character development and also a lot of attention paid to relationships of any kinds. As the show is short it can get heavy handed but it's a crime I'll allow.

I also appreciate that despite being for adults ARK knows when to be cruel and when to be kind. Enough to leave me horrified yet never truly desensitized.

The only thing I found lacking was the way dinosaurs were handled a lot of the time. They tended to be a little too easy to tame/work with, which made them feel less like animals and more like plot devices. But again, there is only so much one can put in 6 episodes so I'll allow it.

I'm really happy I watched part 1 of this show. It gave me hope and brought me joy in difficult times and I hope it will make other people feel the same way.

This could have been a fun fantasy and action packed family comedy. It isn't, because beyond a few genuinely funny jokes (and the pleasure of singing along famous French music), a lot of the humor feels 40 years out of date, and the action/fantasy looks cheap. Also, the dynamics between family members are either non existent, painfully under developed or borderline offensive.

This could have been a nice movie to teach kids about the Middle Ages, since it is so insistant on being set in the actual 15th century. It isn't, instead what we see is a caricature of what people think medieval Europe was like, based on pretty much nothing real about the time period.

This could have been a way to learn about the game... Having watched it with someone who hasn't played this version, I can assure you it was not.

Add to that poor writing, and this was a pretty infuriating movie to seat through.

I really don't recommend it even as a fan of the game.

I was literally complaining the other day about how few horror movies we have with openly LGBTQIA leads that explore intimacy in both its beautiful and horrifying aspects the way directors like Cronenberg had... And would you look at that!

How intimacy can be used as a way to bound as well as to hurt, to empower as well as to belittle is, in my opinion, really well shown. I also appreciate how Ben's dream of becoming an adult movie star is never frowned upon while being realistic about the industry.

As other reviewers have mentioned Ben and Dom have an incredible chemistry and the tenderness and desire between them is beautifully portrayed both by the talented actors and the direction. On that note, Alice and Rich's actors are also incredible in their own right, horrifying in how humans they are despite the lengths they go to.

Several people have complained it could have gone harder on the body horror, and while I'm always up for more, I feel like for a small budget film it was well done. If anything, I appreciate that the horror didn't come solely from that, but also from more mundane parts of the plot. (Alice's character for example, set my teeth on edge more than any gooey monstrosity).

I'm glad I watched this movie and I hope more people get to enjoy it!