Can’t Escape the Loop

When NetflixOriginally started as a disc-by-mail service, Netflix has grown to be one of the largest media companies in the world (and one of the most valued internet companies as well). With a constant slate of new internet streaming-based programming that updates all the time, Netflix has redefined what it means to watch TV and films (as well as how to do it). first got into streaming, there was a promise of how the new era of television would work. Things started off slow for the production unit, with only two main shows and a handful of movies purchased and produced, but what they had was interesting and it alluded to bigger and better things. Orange is the New Black was a buzzy show that had people talking, even if the later seasons eventually petered out, while House of Cards had big names attached in front of and behind the scenes and it seemed like it would be a massive, breakout hit. And it was, but bad writing and, well, Kevin Spacey both quickly sunk all of that.

Still, from time to time I like to go back and watch a couple of those early projects the streamer put out, back when they were the only real game in town and yet they also felt like an upstart giving the people what they wanted. There are projects that Netflix made back then I doubt they’d even touch with a ten-foot pole now, with weird ideas that the studio gave a greenlight to with absolutely no oversight. “You want money to make your weirdo project? Cool. We’re not a normal studio so take this check and we’ll happily get out of your way.” Some days I miss those heady times.

One such movie that got distribution from Netflix back in that early era was ARQ. Written and directed by Tony Elliot, who would later go on to work on Orphan Black, the script for ARQ existed as far back as 2008, but was stuck in development hell for years. The strength of his work on Orphan Black, though, got the greenlight for his film, and by 2018 the movie was up and streaming on Netflix. The whole project cost less than $2 Mil to make, as per Elliot, and was an easy investment for Netflix (contrast to now when they’ll spend $200 Mil on a film that no one watches), and while it didn’t become a cultural smash the film was intriguing enough that I keep going back to it whenever Netflix decides I need to watch it again.

The film opens with Renton (Robbie Amell) waking up at 6:16 AM in his bedroom. Sleeping next to him is Hannah (Rachel Taylor), and he takes a quiet moment to look at her before all hell breaks loose. Three armed, masked men break into the room, knocking him around before dragging him out of the room, followed by Hannah. He fights back, tries to escape, breaks his neck when he falls down some stairs, and then wakes up back in his bedroom at 6:16 AM. All for the actions to start all over again… except this time Renton doesn’t fight back.

They pull him to his workshop where a strange machine, the ARQ, stands spinning. A body lays beside it, dead. Apparently Renton has a fail-safe on the machine that instant fries anyone that touches it. The men want Renton’s scripts, his corporate money, and they’re willing to use Hannah as leverage for it. Eventually Renton concedes, giving them what they came for, but one of them men, Sonny (Shaun Benson), shoots Renton and then, suddenly, it’s 6:16 AM and he’s back in his bedroom. Each time he wakes up he remembers what happened, and each time he tries to find a way to escape this loop. All he knows is that the men are coming, he and Hannah are in danger, and that machine, the ARQ that he built, is somehow causing this time loop over and over again.

Time loop movies are nothing new, of course. Groundhog Day is the most famous of them, but the genre has existed for decades, with plenty of other creatives putting their own spin on the material. Some have been better than others (Palm Springs is one of my favorites, for example), but I can appreciate any that put an interesting spin on the material, and 2016’s ARQ certainly does. It’s a twisty little sci-fi time loop film that keeps you guessing on every single loop, especially as the plot of the film spins out and the storytelling starts to get really weird.

Without spoiling too much, the machinations of the film all revolve around the time loops of the machine. Renton is the first to wake up and remember the loop, over and over, but as time goes on other characters begin to remember things as well. This helps to change the film from a standard time loop story into something different. Once Hannah begins remembering, she and Renton can start discussing the loops together, trying to work out ways to escape what’s coming. But when the other men begin to remember as well, things take a much darker turn.

The film is set in a somewhat distant (although specifically not listed) time in the future when corporations have taken over the world and created a kind of war-torn dystopia. Renton built the ARQ to provide limitless, perpetual power. It spins on its own energy and then somehow creates more, which, if it worked, would allow the machine to be used by anyone to power their own houses, cities, and more. It could have toppled the power of the corporations. Except it doesn’t actually work as intended. Pretty quickly Renton realizes that the ARQ isn’t creating power; it’s looping time on itself to perpetually use its own finite amount of power over and over again. Thus the loop. As the film progresses, the functions of the loop, as well as the desire of one corporation, Torus, to get the machine become the focus of the story.

I like how the story works in the context of the film. It gives more weight to the proceedings than simply having the characters try to figure out a way to escape the loop. It’s not just that the loop itself needs to be broken, but that the heroes have to keep the machine out of the hands of Torus. Who knows what a powerful corporation could do with the power to loop time endlessly. Win any conflict, master any situation. They could rule the world. Mixing the fate of humanity into a story of time loops is a lot, but ARQ is able to do it really well at a small, focused level.

Functionally ARQ is essentially a bottle episode. Almost everything takes place in the few small rooms of Renton’s house. That helps to keep costs down (as Elliot mentioned, the film was made for less than $2 Mil) but it also keeps the dynamics of the story focused. We can immediately start picking up on the basic beats of the story across its loops, going through the same few rooms, building the layout of events in our head. The close quarters mean that for all the action and sci-fi elements the film throws in (some heady concepts, a few fist fights), this remains a tight little drama. The emphasis is on the characters and the story, not the greater tech of the world.

With all that said, there are a couple of flaws in the film that keep it from perfection. The film tries a little too hard with its high-concept ideas and some of its narrative twists don’t make a ton of sense. At one point Renton realizes that the time loop is speeding up when he looks at a clock and it starts ticking by faster and faster. This is interesting in theory, except everything continues to move at the same pace so what, really, does “time is speeding up” even mean? Functionally, nothing. And then at some point Renton discovers that the time loop may be localized to just the house which means… what? Have they been trapped in the loop for years? Functionally that doesn’t work due to some outside factors that come into play late in the loops, but at the same time, why mention it if it doesn’t have bearing. I feel like this was an idea tossed out just in case the film got a sequel, but it’s been nearly a decade since this film quietly released on Netflix and that clearly is never happening, so it’s a narrative idea that is thrown out and then goes nowhere.

Despite these little things, though, I still enjoy ARQ on the whole. I like how it plays with the concept of time loops and toys around with how the characters use their knowledge to get ahead. It tries for some big swings, and while not everything lands, a lot of it does. ARQ is an interesting time loop film that doesn’t play like standard models of the genre, and that makes me appreciate it even more. It’s a solid, interesting little sci-fi cheapie that explores its ideas pretty well, with a game cast that helps to sell the reality of the moment. It might not be perfect, but it’s a damn sight better than most of what Netflix releases, in 2016 as in 2025.