Arcadian

MOVIE #1,948 • SCORE 8/10 • 09.05.24
SERIES: NICOLAS CAGE A-Z ACTOR FOCUS (Ch. 69)

Welcome to a special 2-for-1 installment of The Year of Cage. In this recently-released catch-up edition, I'll be looking at two 2024 films that have titles beginning with letters I’ve already covered in this A-Z series: the much heralded, surprise hit Longlegs and this one, a DTV-esque monster movie. Both films were made on the (relative) cheap but this particular entry is becoming increasingly rare in now that we've entered the Cageassaince. Arcadian received a very limited theatrical release before coming out via the Shudder streaming service and on VOD where I watched it. Keeping with tradition for these new films, I won't be offering my traditional video plot recap style review. Sorry. Or, you're welcome.

While he has a lot more screen-time here than in Longlegs, this is also a supporting role for Cage (he gets injured and is incapacitated for a very good chunk of the film). He's shown much more willingness of late to take on projects where he's second (or third, etc.) fiddle (2023’s Reinfeld, which we’ll get to very soon, is another recent example). One of the things that drew me into this series was not just his sprawling filmography but his very high batting average of playing the top-billed lead in the productions. But this is interesting too (and not surprising, but fitting in a way: an elder statesman passing the torch sort of a thing).

The major complaint for this picture is that, like a lot of new movies, it’s too dark, and its (over) use of shaky handheld is distracting/annoying. These are both tools, to a degree, to hide the CGI monsters but I honestly A) didn’t find it to be as grating as many people are suggesting, and B) thought the creature design was actually really cool/interesting.

They also seemed to be commenting on how overdrawn exposition in stories like this rarely add to the final product, specifically in a scene where two characters play a game where they have ten seconds to describe the apocalypse. You could definitely get into the weeds with the rules/mechanics of this world, if you wanted to. The monsters seem to be able to combine into a Critters 2-like mega-ball but they can’t smash through wood doors or climb to reach second-story windows? Like the origin story (they’re alien bugs?), it’s not the point to dissect this minutia. I had a very good time watching this: the performances are strong, the action set-pieces are solid and sometimes terrifying, and there’s subtle/intriguing character arcs, like how this is really a movie about how it's finally time to do the right thing only after your girlfriend's dad went let you hook up with her.

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CHRONOLOGICALLY
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Arcadian is a 2024 post-apocalyptic action horror film directed by Benjamin Brewer from a screenplay by Michael Nilon. It stars Nicolas Cage as the father of two teenage boys, all trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. The film is an international co-production between the United States, Canada, and Ireland. It was released on March 11, 2024.