The Quiet Earth. (15.)
Directed by Geoff Murphy. 1984
Starring Bruno Lawrence, Alison Routledge and Peter Smith. 87 mins. Out on Blu-ray and DVD from Arrow Academy.
Everybody has that film you remember seeing decades ago, and remember being really good, but can't really remember why. You are keen to see it again, but fear that it won't be anywhere near as good as you remember it was. In fact, you rather fear it might be rubbish. I saw The Quiet Earth on BBC 2 sometime in the 80s and the title and the Pavlovian reflex that it was a really good film has stuck with me as a faithful, but largely inert, companion all the way down the years. Well, now that Arrow have stuck it out on Blu-ray, the time has come to find out the truth.
Imagine being the only person left on earth. Be bliss wouldn't it? Still, I guess it would get old pretty quickly, especially when the electric stopped working, but for a few weeks, what a time. This is the situation faced by Zac (Lawrence, getting his knob out again) when he is awoken at 6.12 by his very Groundhog Day style alarm clock, and heads off to work on deserted roads, through deserted towns to his deserted workplace. This being set in the sparsely occupied New Zealand, his isolation takes that bit longer to register. As he moves through the empty streets of Hamilton, first-time viewers wonder if the other cast members listed in the opening credits are to be met or if flashbacks will occur.
How does it stand up? Less than I remember but I could see why it would stick its claws into the subconscious.
The downside is that the way it explores the whole Last Man On Earth situation is mostly unimaginative. Zac's running-wild-on-his-own japes are disappointing and uninteresting. After half hour the narrative takes a shift and that doesn't really buck things up. The writing and characterisation are consistently less exciting than you'd want it to be.
But, what has kept the film bubbling along as a minor cult item is that the sci-fi aspects are really spot on. As luck would have it Zac just so happens to have been a scientist working on a secret project that may have been responsible for The Event. How very convenient, but it's a contrivance that pays off because it means that we have someone who can communicate the science to the audience. And the science is fascinating.
That's the trick of the film. Normally these kinds of films are interested in their outlandish premise only so far as the human drama they can get from them. The Quiet Earth is the opposite. It consistently bungles the conventionally dramatic but the scientific theories are enthralling. And right at the end, it throws a curve ball at you that will keep you hooked into it for a few more decades.
Extras.
New audio commentary by critic Travis Crawford
• New video essay on the film by critic Bryan Reesman
• New interview with critic Kim Newman on the post-apocalyptic movies of the 1980s
• Original theatrical trailer
• Stills gallery
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Laz Marquez
Directed by Geoff Murphy. 1984
Starring Bruno Lawrence, Alison Routledge and Peter Smith. 87 mins. Out on Blu-ray and DVD from Arrow Academy.
Everybody has that film you remember seeing decades ago, and remember being really good, but can't really remember why. You are keen to see it again, but fear that it won't be anywhere near as good as you remember it was. In fact, you rather fear it might be rubbish. I saw The Quiet Earth on BBC 2 sometime in the 80s and the title and the Pavlovian reflex that it was a really good film has stuck with me as a faithful, but largely inert, companion all the way down the years. Well, now that Arrow have stuck it out on Blu-ray, the time has come to find out the truth.
Imagine being the only person left on earth. Be bliss wouldn't it? Still, I guess it would get old pretty quickly, especially when the electric stopped working, but for a few weeks, what a time. This is the situation faced by Zac (Lawrence, getting his knob out again) when he is awoken at 6.12 by his very Groundhog Day style alarm clock, and heads off to work on deserted roads, through deserted towns to his deserted workplace. This being set in the sparsely occupied New Zealand, his isolation takes that bit longer to register. As he moves through the empty streets of Hamilton, first-time viewers wonder if the other cast members listed in the opening credits are to be met or if flashbacks will occur.
How does it stand up? Less than I remember but I could see why it would stick its claws into the subconscious.
The downside is that the way it explores the whole Last Man On Earth situation is mostly unimaginative. Zac's running-wild-on-his-own japes are disappointing and uninteresting. After half hour the narrative takes a shift and that doesn't really buck things up. The writing and characterisation are consistently less exciting than you'd want it to be.
But, what has kept the film bubbling along as a minor cult item is that the sci-fi aspects are really spot on. As luck would have it Zac just so happens to have been a scientist working on a secret project that may have been responsible for The Event. How very convenient, but it's a contrivance that pays off because it means that we have someone who can communicate the science to the audience. And the science is fascinating.
That's the trick of the film. Normally these kinds of films are interested in their outlandish premise only so far as the human drama they can get from them. The Quiet Earth is the opposite. It consistently bungles the conventionally dramatic but the scientific theories are enthralling. And right at the end, it throws a curve ball at you that will keep you hooked into it for a few more decades.
Extras.
New audio commentary by critic Travis Crawford
• New video essay on the film by critic Bryan Reesman
• New interview with critic Kim Newman on the post-apocalyptic movies of the 1980s
• Original theatrical trailer
• Stills gallery
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Laz Marquez
