The Latest Netflix Original Movie ‘ARQ’ Is A Dystopian Time Loop Adventure

Netflix has just announced it latest Netflix Original movie, ARQ. The dystopian tale will drop on September 16, and will star Robbie Amell and Rachael Taylor.

The official synopsis for ARQ, as announced by Netflix, is below.

“In a future where corporations battle against sovereign nations over the last of the world’s energy supplies, young engineer Renton and Hannah find themselves attempting to save an experimental energy technology that could end the wars. The catch is, the technology has created a time loop that causes them to relive a deadly home invasion over and over again. They must figure out how to stop the time loop and come out of it alive.”

The trailer for ARQ reveals a dystopian version of Groundhog Day, with Renton, played by Robbie Amell, waking over and over again at 6.16 a.m., only moments before military bursts through his door and takes him captive. They are after the ARQ, a much “sought-after invention… that could solve the energy crisis that’s tearing the world apart,” according to i09.

Over time, Renton begins to alter events within the time loop that is caused by the ARQ. Everyday he wakes beside Hannah, played by Rachael Taylor. At first she isn’t aware of the time loop. Eventually, though, she wakes up knowing Renton will be shot, just like he has been every day since the movie began, and so she joins Renton in the awareness of the continual time loop.

The two must find a way to stop the time loop as well as save themselves from the deadly invasion. A timed bomb features throughout the official trailer, so perhaps Renton has rigged it to go off before he is shot? Only by tuning into Netflix’s ARQ on September 16 will reveal all.

ARQ joins the long line of time loop movies such as Groundhog Day. i09 likened it more to Edge of Tomorrow than Groundhog Day as both are obviously science fiction based movies. However, fans of Nicole Kidman’s Before I Go To Sleep might also draw parallels between the two movies in regards to the way information is unfurled.

Along with the latest trailer released today by Netflix, a new promotional poster for ARQ has been dropped as well.

While nothing has been confirmed yet, the heavily visual of the mask could indicate some sort of problem with the air they breathe in ARQ. Or, alternatively, perhaps the ARQ is kept in a place that requires breathing apparatus. As Inverse points out, the “society outside the laboratory run by [Renton]… is being ripped apart in a world-wide war for the last vestiges of energy on the planet.”

So life is bleak in ARQ, which is set somewhere in the near future. War of that scale, however, could certainly lead to compromised air quality. Considering a similar image has appeared in two of the promotional images for Netflix’s ARQ, it seems likely this aspect will play a large to vital role.

Netflix’s ARQ is produced by Lost City and XYZ Films. The low-budget movie was filmed in Toronto over the winter months. According to The Hollywood Reporter, ARQ is the latest Netflix venture in “a continuation of Netflix’s global film strategy of working directly with independent filmmakers and producers.” This bucks the current trend of 2016 which has seen a resurgence of remakes and reboots. Although, Netflix also has the reboot market covered with the recent announcement they would be producing a remake of Anne of Green Gables.

ARQ, starring Robbie Amell (The Flash) and Rachael Taylor (Jessica Jones) is a Netflix original film set in a dystopian society, written and directed by Tony Elliott (Orphan Black). The film is an official selection of the 2016 Toronto Film Festival. ARQ will debut on Netflix on September 16, 2016.

Are you looking forward to Netflix’s ARQ? Let us know by commenting below.

[Image via Netflix]