Arrowhead (2016) Reviews

• Rocky start but then really worth the watch

  michaelltf2016-02-26

  If you like Sci Fi and you can still appreciate smaller productions, despite being spoiled by the excess of big budgets, then you will like this movie. Having said this, the production in this movie is great. After the introduction the story slowly develops, everything about the movie picks up a lot in the second half, it becomes intriguing after a Kafka-esque twist and it really becomes an enjoyable watch. With regards to previous reviews - Expressions involving space time belong to everything in the universe not just 'Interstellar the movie', the reference is unnecessary sigh, also the movie isn't totally focused on this theme at all. I would be more concerned with how certain other themes and concepts are unimaginatively explored to death in other movies over the last 100 years. Enjoy this movie on its on merits!

• Hang in there! it gets better! PROMISE!

  simonhayter2016-02-02

  I would say that when it comes to judging good science fiction movies I have a good sense of sniffing out the good from the bad, normally I can tell within just few minutes if the movie holds any promise, but this movie is somewhat very strange… it starts of very weak even through a big chunk of the budget was spent in the first 20minutes of the movie, I found myself compelled to continue watching even when it didn't hold much appeal! I'm glad I waited, the story picked up and the acting is 10x better in the second half of the movie than it was at the start, its rare to see a movie that goes from so bad to so good, and I have to take my hat off to the entire crew for pulling of a superb low-budget sci-fi.

• pretty decent low budget scifi

  digdog-785-7175382016-02-01

  Arrowhead is a low budget film and you will be reminded of that in more than one occasion; but it's refreshing to see a budding filmmaker use proper filmmaking techniques to entertain you, rather than throwing money at the screen and hoping it works. The story is of a confused convict, trust into a situation where he is in over his head, who winds up stranded on an alien planet and infected with a weird virus. Then, a series of weird occurrences start to set in - most lifted from other films, but fused together enough to become something new. It's got a bit of Riddick, a bit of Moon, a touch of Alien, some Robinson Crusoe, and while it's not great, it's certainly watchable, more so if you yourself are interested in filmmaking .. on a budget. No, it's not better than Interstellar, but it's also much less pretentious. My vote : 7/10 for the effort.

• Australian Low Budget Sci-Fi that is both original and compelling

  t-dooley-69-3869162016-03-22

  The synopsis here is that Kye Cortland (Dan Mor) is escaped from a planetary prison by some guerrilla types who are the enemy of the Empire and sent on a mission on a ship called 'Arrowhead' as he has the technical skills to fly it. The mission goes a tad wrong and he gets shipwrecked on a deserted moon. There is a tradition that certain prisoners are executed on a particular day each year and Kye finds out his father is next. All he wants to do is get to him before that happens and these outlaws are his only chance. The problem is he is not alone on this moon and what he meets will change him forever. Now this is low budget but that made me like it even more. They have gone back to basics and used bits of old vacuum cleaners and typewriters to make some of the props – even dustbin lids are employed. The acting is all excellent. Dan Mor is particularly good, but I have to say hats off to Christopher Kirby who starred in the brilliant 'Iron Sky'. He only has a small role but absolutely nails it and then some. The on board computer is brilliant too and will remind certain people of 'Dark Star' or even 'Red Dwarf'. The story itself is refreshingly original and it manages to keep the tension going right the way to the final frame. The CGI varies from rather good to above average but I am more than happy to live with that when the over all package is actually engagingly good.

• Slightly interesting, muddled first-time effort

  aaronclawrence2016-09-09

  This movie may be a good first time effort for the director, but it does almost everything wrong. The story can't decide what it's about, the characters are thinly sketched and inconsistent, the effects from tolerable to embarrassing, and the sets and locations looked almost exactly like a 70s Doctor Who or Star Trek effort. There is sometimes a decent atmosphere and some camera work is effective. But it's the muddled story which often makes no sense, that killed it for me. It's not that is was too complex, it's simply that scenes, and even individual dialog lines, didn't connect to each other in any way. I think possibly if you watched it slightly drunk and with the sound off, it could seem like an amusing diversion, because of some effective images - mostly skies with planets and ships. But trying to follow it like a proper movie just leads to disappointment.