Arcadia

...of the hell we're currently living through. It's also a giant, steaming pile of dook.

The concept behind the movie is one that's been done many times. It's easy to make it interesting and exciting. And yet this movie still failed. The characters and setting is flat and underdeveloped. And the ending is just... bad.

The biggest problem is the first hour or so is just bland and boring. We get a brief introduction to the main character and one person he cares about for a couple minutes and then it skips ahead six years and we're left to figure out what happened on our own through clues. Basically the whole movie relies on the idea that you already know and care about these characters and their situation... except you don't. And they aren't interesting. The only interesting characters are side characters... and they aren't that interesting either.

But I digress. After an hour of nothing really, the movie picks up a little. But then we have these two major events happen that could lead to some interesting things. At the very least we should get a glimpse of what happens after to the main character and society. But we don't. We get a very confusing scene of a woman watering plants for about a minute and it's over. There's no conclusion. It feels like the end of the first episode to a series where there is supposed to be so much more and this was just the introduction. Except it's not. It's a movie. And there should be more.

Basically, it feels like they just ran out of actors and money and time and ... everything? So they just shot this and decided that was good enough to put out.

The concept isn't bad. But unless you like sitting for a hour of boredom before getting somewhere and then not even getting an ending, it's not worth it. I'd probably be giving it one star except I'm a bit of a sucker for the concept and I did manage to watch the whole thing... But it's not good. Wasted potential.

This movie was solid.

I do not understand the low reviews.

The plot is sound, even with the deep politics. The acting is decent. The dialogue is not bad.

This film relates well to COVID-19 at its worst; so, I figure the reviews would be great from US Republicans and Democrats.

In the future, a disease has spread around the world which leaves people dead upon reaching forty. After the chaos of wars and governmental collapses, a new totalitarian regime has risen in London which only offers a cure to its people inside the safe city of Arcadia. There is a lottery to allow people into Arcadia. Charlie works for Arcadia and is desperate to gain entry for himself and his daughter. He is assigned to capture Adam Black, a member of resistance movement 'Free Care'.

This is a British low budget sci-fi indie with some simple effects. This is mostly filmed in what looks like suburban homes and in the woods. It makes the high tech sci-fi story stall. It doesn't help with the sound quality either. The acting is best described as functional amateurism. The most important aspect is the premise of the movie. The writers are obviously trying to say something about health care. It's trying to be a high-concept sci-fi but the concept needs some more work. It doesn't really get pass a secondary questioning. If Arcadia actually exists, the world would be at its door either threatening it or begging for it to share the cure. This movie construction is simply not built properly. It's a step above film school but a big step below good festival material.

I'm gonna guess this movie was made by a group of very perceptive people who aren't duped by the propaganda of the government and media. If it can help open some people's eyes, that would be fantastic.

I won't detail the plot, I don't want to ruin it, the description on IMDB is totally sufficient, if that sounds interesting, and some of the downsides below I mention won't other you, watch it!

It is very low-budget, with limited sets, mostly filmed indoors, the audio as noted y others isn't great, but honestly, it isn't nearly as horrible as others have claimed. Others claimed some parts were way too loud, but I watched it on my TV and did not find it incredibly uneven. No, I find the sound was less uneven than in "Hacksaw Ridge" in all honesty, which had VERY uneven sound mixing. However, I would say that it is clear in some spots, the mic used was not very high quality, particularly in the scenes with the Asian character, the audio in his scenes are always echo heavy, but not to the point you can't understand him. The rest of the audio is good enough, other then sometimes the music playing in the background is slightly too loud. Again, minor sound issues, nothing that for most people, will destroy the enjoyment of the film.

For a movie with limited locations that is 100% dialogue driven, and not being able to show the actual city talked about "Arcadia" due to budget constraints, I never lost interest. Obviously some people here have shorter attention spans and are annoyed by the constant dialogue, and if that annoys you. I'd avoid this. The script here is quite solid and the acting performances are all decent to good. Not a ad actor here, which for a cast of unknowns, is often rare. Despite the dialogue heavy narrative, it is relatively fast-paced, and I was shocked when I found out I was at the final 5 minutes of the film. It didn't feel that long, it stayed interesting throughout, even if I could guess some of the trajectory, I never lost my interest. With limited locations, it succeeds in some decent world building, which is no small feat.

What really got me abut this movie was how much this parallels our current times, it pretty well is accurate to what is going on right now around the world with the medical tyranny. This movie could not be made with a big budget, no way, it would get stopped before it entered production. Low-budget movie making is really where it's at nowadays if you want solid ideas and scripts, especially in sci-fi.