Review of 'ARQ'

Hey, I recently watched ARQ—more than a year after it was first released on Netflix—a time-loop Groundhog Day meets I don't know, Terminator movie, about a couple in a facility near the end of the world in some desperate battle, obliged to relive a few hours over and over again, because every time they're killed by masked then unmasked intruders, they wake up in the same bed, together, with memories (usually) of what happened to them in the earlier loops. This is because the guy is the programmer of a machine that can (presumably) run forever because it keeps regenerating its energy, by thrusting itself and those in its vicinity a little bit back into the past.

Got it? Believe or not, for a variety of reasons not at all related to the movie, it took me a bunch of nights to watch this movie, but there was no need to rewind, since no one was attacking me. And I did recall everything that happened earlier in the movie.

ARQ also has a pretty good almost romantic plot. The guy loves the woman, and she loves him, though their political affiliations aren't quite what they seem to be. There's no need to worry about being killed—well, it is an inconvenience, because it can get in the way of their plans—but no huge deal, because the death of either one and especially both seems to trigger the time loop aka the reseting of time by the machine. Apparently.

By the way, ARQ is the name of the machine—which is an acronym for arcing recursive quine, which is a pretty accurate description of what the machine does, check out what the word "quine" means on Google—and this is pretty neat little movie, though something happens at the very very end which is a little too unclear even for my metaphysics.

But if you have a weakness for loops—which I obviously do—see ARQ. And maybe see it again. But not again, unless... Kudos to director and writer Tony Elliott, who's also done work on 12 Monkeys.