Movie Review: ARCADIAN

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: April 12th, 2024 / 01:04 AM

ARCADIAN movie poster | ©2024 RLJE Films / Shudder

Rating: R
Stars: Nicolas Cage, Jaeden Martell, Maxwell Jenkins, Sadie Soverall
Writer: Mike Nilon
Director: Benjamin Brewer
Distributor: RLJE Films/Shudder
Release Date: April 12, 2024

In ARCADIAN, centralized civilization is already nearing its end when Paul (Nicolas Cage) is running through back alleys. The sky is full of smoke, sirens are wailing somewhere, and there are crucified bodies in the background.

Paul finds a lone crying baby and comforts the child.

Fifteen years later, Paul is far from this urban catastrophe. He is now the father of two teen sons, Joseph (Jaeden Martell) and Thomas (Maxwell Jenkins). Since Thomas is the younger of the two, we surmise he’s the older version of the baby Paul found; we never learn whether Joseph is biologically related to Paul or not. Although there is sibling rivalry, where either son came from is never an issue.

All three live with their dog Rocco in a large, isolated house that they work to shutter up before dark. They say prayers at mealtime, including a mention of being thankful for being brought together as a family.

Joseph is cerebral and likes to invent things; Thomas would rather spend time at the farm of the neighboring Rose family, mainly because he is exceptionally fond of their daughter Charlotte (Sadie Soverall).

Nobody knows what caused the apocalypse. Joseph believes the monsters are trying to wipe out humans to stop us from causing further pollution. Thomas has no idea, and not much curiosity, either. Paul is optimistic that somewhere out there, somebody is working to put things back together.

However circumstances evolved, what is sure is that some truly alarming creatures try every night to break into the homes of surviving humans. These things are deterred by the sun, but are extremely dangerous.

Directed by Benjamin Brewer and written by Mike Nilon, ARCADIAN is pretty straightforward. We’ve got people fighting for their lives against scary monsters. There’s a bit of consideration of post-apocalypse manners, as far as what constitutes being neighborly and what goes too far; there’s also some thrill of invention. Mostly, though, it’s running, hiding, trapping, and confronting, often in combination.

The landscape is gorgeous and green, even if we’re not sure where we’re supposed to be. (ARCADIAN was filmed in Ireland, which is no surprise given what the buildings look like, but almost everyone has a North American accent.) The creatures have an ingenious design when we get to examine them, but they sometimes have speeded-up movement that is comical rather than intimidating.

Cage gives a fairly restrained performance as a man whose whole world is his boys. He conveys that handily without overdoing bravado or eccentricity. Martell calmly puts across Joseph’s intellect, and Jenkins gives us innocence, plaintiveness, and defiance in proper proportions. Soverall has charm and balances Charlotte’s lack of knowledge with innate grace.

As this subgenre goes, ARCADIAN is more like A QUIET PLACE than MAD MAX, with a few characters in lovely surroundings having to innovate with few tools against horror. It’s got few frills, but it delivers what it advertises.

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A family deals with the nightly monster apocalypse in an idyllic countryside

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Article: Movie Review: ARCADIAN

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