In his continuing evolution from indie maverick, to action oddball, to DTV maniac and back to indie Maverick again, Nicolas Cage seems to be on the verge of becoming the modern version of Christopher Lee as he wracks up yet another atmospheric horror curio in the form of Benjamin Brewer’s Arcadian. I truly believe Cage hit his horror peak with Panos Cosmatos’ 2018 freak-out Mandy, and since then, cinema’s Earl of Eccentricity and the Mage of Rage Cage has continued on that weird and wonderful thread with appearances in the deranged likes of Color Out Of Space and Willy’s Wonderland.
However, his next venture into the genre is something a bit more familiar than the unhinged visions I previously named as the actor dials back the screaming in favour of portraying a father bringing to keep his twin boys in line in an apocalyptic dystopia laden with monstrous predators. However, those disappointed by the news that this film features a more restrained Cage can take heart, because these monsters more than make up for all the crazy.
After civilisation as we know it has fallen in the face of overwhelming pollution, we are introduced to Paul as he flees a city where all that can be heard is sirens gunfire, screaming and the sound of exploding rockets – but while it initially seems that this guy is running for his life, we soon find that he’s actually returning to his two twin, baby sons who he vows he will keep safe.
Fifteen years later, and Paul’s kids have grown to be two very different people. Thomas is the energetic, outspoken one whose carefree attitude is marred slightly by a worrying lack of responsibility, while the more sullen Joseph is by far the more intellectual, but is far more fearful and dislikes leaving the safety of his father’s farm. Of course, the two boys are at that age where they tend to clash without even having to try, but tensions are heightened between the two by the fact that Thomas keeps running off to the neighbouring Rose farm to help them out and spend time with their daughter, Charlotte, and barely makes it home before nightfall.
Why is it so bad to be out after nightfall, I here you ask? Oh, didn’t I mention that for deliberately nebulous reasons, voracious, snarling creatures emerge from their hiding places to stalk prey wherever they can find it and as well as being fast and frighteningly crafty? No? Well, they are and soon Thomas’ careless attitude causes him to be caught out after dark which, in turn, has a domino effect that leaves both him and Joseph having to fend for themselves.
Can these mismatched brothers manage to get on the same page long enough to fend off the mother of all monster attacks, or will their differences cause the family to fall apart completely?
So, I might as well address the stylized, dystopian monster in the room and comment on Arcadian’s most obvious feature first and I’ll put it as diplomatically as I can: if you really can’t wait a couple of weeks to go see A Quiet Place: Day One, then don’t worry, because Brewer’s debut feature has got you covered by being remarkably similar. I’m not quite sure exactly why we’ve had a sudden influx of dystopian monster movies that all seem to be a metaphor for parenting, but the bad news is that Arcadian isn’t a patch of John Krasinski’s magnificent A Quiet Place, however, the good news is that it’s noticably more beguiling than some of the other movies that followed in its silently creeping footsteps such as Bird Box (A Quiet Place but you can’t look) and The Silence (A Quiet Place but with bats). The reason is that Arcadian wisely drops the senses gimmick in favour of focusing more on the family aspects of the story and as such also feels reminiscent of other stripped back, end of the world movies such as It Comes At Night and Stake Land. Of course, me spending this entire review just listing movies that Arcadian is similar to isn’t really doing the movie any favours whatsoever, so in the film’s defence, it’s a nicely thoughtful ride that truly comes into it’s own when it focuses on it’s most original asset by far – the startlingly strange monsters.
However, we’ll get to them in a moment as we first focus on the other aspects of the film and Brewer has a good handle on proceedings, gradually building a world with a minimum of exposition as he favours watching his characters go through their lives. Cage – who also produces – is nicely stoic as the dad who is trying to keep his boys unified when the end of civilisation seems to be driving them ever further apart and it’s the twins who bare the brunt of the heavy lifting. Luckily, their Thor and Loki relationship is more than up to the task with Maxwell Jenkins more physical Thomas nicely avoiding unlikable jock tropes as he understandably longs to spend more time with Sadie Soverall’s Charlotte. On the flip side, the brooding, thoughtful Joseph, played by It’s Jeaden Martell also avoids major pitfalls by having his character not be an embittered whiner, but instead an aspiring inventor that wants to take steps and understand the enemy rather than just survive.
It all work rather well as it slow burns through its plot, however, with Cage’s character being waylaid around the halfway point and a climax that falls into the third act trap of going full on monster movie, there’s a sense that the director loses a bit of his original focus – especially when the other members of the Rose farm suddenly reveal themselves to be less than civilised simply to up the tension. However, Arcadian has an unlikely savior waiting in the wings – and it isn’t a deranged tirade by Cage.
There will be those disappointed that Cage doesn’t lose his shit in this one, but if it’s eccentric, normality defying weirdos you’re after then the actor is ably replaced by some of the most daringly and jarringly original creatures you’re likely to see all year. Crouching on their gangly haunches somewhere between Studio Ghibli, Looney Tunes and Dr. Seuss that has these freakish, emaciated critters looking like a bizarre mix of a background creature from Spirited Away and a frenzied, Wile E. Coyote who looks dangerously strung out on meth. When these fascinating beasts aren’t repeatedly snapping their jaws together in an unnerving machine gun staccato, they’re either swallowing their victims whole like a snake (at least, I think that’s what they’re doing), or merging to form a living wheel to give chase and they are so aggressively strange and so mysterious, they’re far and away the best thing in a nicely capable film.
Hardly groundbreaking, but in taking a slightly different view of a well worn trope, Arcadian delivers just enough of the good stuff to carry things through. However, the gleefully off-beat monsters end up being the true stars of the show while Cage is content to stand back and let them carry the crazy.
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