Arcadian – A Rock Solid Post Apocalyptic Thriller (Early Review)

Arcadian is set in the near future where life on earth has been decimated. Paul (Cage) lives on a closed off farm with his twin teenage sons, Thomas (Martell) and Joseph (Jenkins). When the sun sets at the end of the day, ferocious creates of the night awaken and consume all living souls in their path. When Paul is injured, it’s up to Thomas and Joseph to use the skills their father taught them and survive against the bloodthirsty creatures. A rock solid post apocalyptic creature feature, the biggest takeaway will be its creature design. Highly impressive and very inventive, it’s easy to see how it takes inspiration from classic animes. The creatures have a genuinely scary look to them, and are terrific both in the practical effects and digital effects areas. A slow burn, it’s always engaging and investing until its intensity ratchets up considerably, consistently raising the stakes all the way to the end. The monster action more than delivers, and anyone who finds the film’s first portion of this slow, they will be rewarded once all the chaos comes.

Cage, once again, delivers another great leading performance as Paul, acharacter one will instantly latch onto whether they like him or not. He’s tough on his sons but it comes from a place of love and respect, and his actions throughout the film were clearly designed to help and better his sons. But as great as Cage is, it’s the young cast consisting of Jenkins (Joseph), Martell (Thomas), and Sadie Soverall (Charlotte) who leave the greatest impression. While they all give great performances, Martell gives far and away one of the best and most mature performance of his career. Another thing that makes this standout from the onslaught of other post apocalyptic thrillers is the central family dynamic between Cage and Martell and Jenkins. Their family dynamic feels genuine, making it easy to care for and hope to see them survive their nightmarish situation alive. Spend a large portion of the film apart from one another, the film is clearly doing something right when audiences want constantly want to see them be reunited.

That being said, although the creature design is unlike anything this genre has ever seen, outside of that the film truly doesn’t have much to offer in the way of new or original ideas pertaining to post apocalyptic films or creature features. Therefore, it is easy to draw comparisons to similar post apocalyptic films such as A Quiet Place. There are also not a whole lot of surprises in here, making the film fairly easy to predict where it goes. Definitely a slow burn, many will appreciate that approach, however, its first half might test the patience of certain audiences who may go into this one expecting something more akin to a full blown action thriller (like what its brief premise implies). Lastly, more of a nitpick than anything else, the film could’ve explained things a little more and fleshed out the world a little further as it will leave many with a few lingering questions that are never fully answered or even addressed.

All in all, Arcadian is nevertheless a solid and entertaining horror thriller worth checking out for horror fans and/or Nicolas Cage fans. Another winning addition to the recent run Cage has been on as of late and is arguably one of his best recent offerings. While it could have expanded on several of its key aspects little further but for what it is, the film more than gets the job done, delivering a satisfying viewing experience.

still courtesy of RLJE Films

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Connor Carey

www.connorsmoviereviews.com/