Arcadian

15

If there’s an award for the actor who has starred in the largest amount of films then Nicolas Cage has either won it, or has its sights on winning it.

There are a number of occasions where he has had four projects released in the same year, which is impressive, if only from a quantity point of you. But in 2018 and 2019 he excelled himself in releasing an astonishing seven features in both years.

Unfortunately there doesn’t appear to be any kind of quality control whatsoever, as the really bad sadly outweighs all of his good work. And yet anything the veteran actor appears in is always worth watching for what he does with the role, good or bad.

For his nine hundredth and forty-seventh role then, Cage finds himself surviving the end of the world. Of course he did, he’s Nic Cage.

boom reviews Arcadian
So should we be expecting dinosaurs at some point?

Living in a remote farmhouse is Paul (Cage) with his two fifteen-year-old sons Joseph (Jaeden Martell) and Thomas (Maxwell Jenkins). Unfortunately it isn’t the most relaxed experience as the end of the world has occurred. There are pockets of survivors here and there, such as Paul and his sons, but the end of the world also happened to create a new threat for them – monsters.

The good news is they don’t like daylight, so everyone is free to come and go as they please, until sunset. It’s then that the family barricade themselves in, and make themselves as difficult as possible for the monsters to get to.

Thomas disappears regularly to help a local farm out with various jobs, although he does have an ulterior motive as the teen Charlotte (Sadie Soverall) lives there. It’s his growing relationship with her that soon puts his whole family in danger, and ends up being the catalyst for more unwanted attention from the monsters that lurk in the dark.

boom reviews Arcadian
What have I told you before about trying to be in a scene on your own?!

Although the film is hardly original, giving a kind of watered down A Quiet Place vibe, it at least falls into the solid category for a Nic Cage performance. In truth though, he steps back in places to let his two young co-stars shine, as it’s probably more their film than Cage’s, as they struggle to survive.

It must have been a small budget, especially as it was shot in Ireland, but US director Benjamin Brewer must have called in a favour from Cage, with the pair previously having worked together, in 2016’s completely forgettable The Trust.

Brewer gets what he wants from Cage though, as well as works hard with his obvious budget restraints, to create an absorbing post apocalyptic horror.

And even though there is no back story as to how the monsters came to be, and are a little generic in what they can and can’t do, they still manage to impress on screen.

With so much product - and with the actor showing no signs in slowing down - it’s getting more and more difficult to sort out the wheat from the chaff as far as Cage’s performances are concerned, so there’s every chance this may well slip down the crack, which is a shame as this is one of the better ones.

Arcadian may not be the most original end of the world with monsties flick you’ll see, but there’s no denying some strong performances and the fact it’s dripping in atmosphere.

we give this three out of five