Nicolas Cage has truly made his mark in cinema, moving effortlessly between blockbuster action, indie dramas, and even quirky comedies. It seems there’s nothing he can’t do, and he proves this once again with Arcadian, a tense thriller set in a terrifying, monster-ridden future.
In Arcadian, the end of the world is just the beginning for Paul (Cage). Our first glimpse is of him in a desperate escape from what seems to be the end of civilization, carrying his two infant boys with him. Fifteen years later, Paul and his now teenage sons Thomas (Maxwell Jenkins) and Joseph (Jaeden Martell), live a meager existence on a remote farm. By day, they scavenge for resources and strengthen their defense, but nightfall brings a relentless onslaught from bloodthirsty photophobic monsters.
When Thomas ventures out after dark, a series of events unfolds that shatters their fragile safety. The family must then band together, using their wits and limited resources to confront not only the nightly terrors but also the tensions and secrets that threaten to tear them apart.
Directed by Benjamin Brewer, Arcadian throws you into a terrifying world of creature horror, but its heart lies in the fierce bonds of family. As Paul, Cage delivers a grounded performance as a father willing to go to great lengths to protect his sons in an unrecognizable world. Cage brings emotional depth to the role, reminding audiences why he’s one of the most versatile actors of his generation.
In an interview with Collider, Nicholas Cage explained how the film’s merging of his two favorite genres and its reflection of his own family dynamics fueled his interest in working on it: “It’s very simple really. Two of my favorite genres, independently spirited family drama, you know, grew up watching East of Eden, Kazan, Ordinary People, Redford, and then science fiction horror in that category, in this case particularly specifically science fiction. If you mash those two and the…the dynamic of the family, which is a father and two boys, which is largely what my family dynamic was, because sadly my mother couldn’t be around as much as we would have liked her to have been around. So my father did all the heavy lifting, so I wanted to tell a story about that family dynamic and then mash it up with science fiction and see what we could come up with, and I’m happy with these results.”
Explosive thrills and deadly creatures … .This May 30, survival is the only rule. Watch Arcadian on Lionsgate Play.
