'ARQ' - Movie Review

I found this Netflix-produced movie during my recent interest in movies similar to "Groundhog Day".

The entire movie takes place in a single house and garage, with a cast of six. Robbie Amell is Renton, who wakes up beside his former girlfriend Hannah in their environmental disaster of a world. He's shortly killed in a house invasion - and wakes up beside Hannah again. Their time loop keeps changing as Renton tries different things - and others start to become aware of the loop. This is the strength of the film: the plot, while a little too convoluted, was well thought out.

Unfortunately, the movie is populated by a bunch of unknown actors. Not always a bad thing, but Robbie Amell is the "paternal first cousin" of Stephen Amell of "Arrow" fame - and he shares his cousin's dramatic range when acting: from stunned to clueless. The rest of the cast is slightly better, but only slightly.

The ending is somewhat unsatisfying [HALF SPOILER ALERT]: this is the only "Groundhog Day" movie I've seen so far where they don't manage to get out of the loop - it's simply implied that they've done something different and have a hope of getting out.

Not disastrously bad, but the worst of the "Groundhog Day" films I've watched and rather poor.