The Quiet Earth (1985)

Too Quiet for some?

The invasion scene where the giant invasion ship spikes into the planet and the millions of ruthless troops run out is amazing on the big screen, hold on, thats "Chronicles of Riddick," yes, this film was made with a budget of about 20 quid, and could almost be a stage play for its "set-piece-iness", but this is a thoughtful and interesting film.

Following a late viewing on a sunday night some years ago, it caused significant discussion on monday morning in the office as to the fate of the main character in the end scene. Mind you, the lyrics to "Martikas Kitchen" also provoked similar discussion so don't let that guide you too much.

Seriously, this will probably be remade by George Clooney soon, but he will be doing well to make it as good as this. So if you like spaceships and explosions and stuff, dont buy this. And as another reviewer points out, Ms Routelidges' behind truly is a sight for sore eyes. November 11, 2008

The Quiet Earth

I wasn't expecting much for a low budget New Zealand movie but was pleasantly surprised. Very good movie that has no dialogue for the first 6 minutes and and not a lot afterwards but it doesn;t really need a lot. With only 3 people left you'd expect to see the blood sucking zombies come out at any minute but guess what there are none just a good story well filmed that really held my attention. The commentary track is also very good an explains a lot of how the picture was made and some interesting insights into the New Zealand view of the world. November 2, 2008

Boring - save your money

The Quiet Earth Of all the fine Sci-fi there has been throughtout the years this has to be one of the worst. The design on the cover and the claims of being spectacular are the only good things about this movie. It would be better unviewed and the cover saved a "Space Art" then to actually watch it. Cannot believe they can actually get (or pay) people or companies to endorse movies such as this. November 2, 2008

slow and predictable

I didn't like it at all, It was to slow for my taste and the ending was predictable to say the least :( October 21, 2008

Good sci fi

The 1985 sci fi film from New Zealand, The Quiet Earth, is one of the best of the `Last Man/Woman On Earth' apocalyptic films. That said, since that is a sub-subgenre of film (subgenre being Apocalyptic films in the genre sci fi), it's merely a good film overall, for it progressively gets weaker as it goes on, as do all films in that vein. Like most films in this sub-subgenre, it falls prey to tropes that undermine it- the first being the predictability of sexual or racial conflict (two for two), and the second being following the Dumbest Possible Action, wherein characters do really dumb things no one would do in real life, just so the film can move along.
Of course, some slack must be given to films like this re: their scientific explanations for the depopulation of the world. In this film, it is ascribed to a Project Flashlight that the New Zealand government was working on in concert with the United States of America. It seems that a worldwide power grid was to be established via airplanes or satellites (it's never made clear- as it should be, lest the science bog down in irreality) and something goes wrong at 6:12 am, New Zealand time. The universe changes to the point that only those people who were near death at `the effect' survive. The rest all vanish- save a few corpses who were likewise near death, then died slowly afterwards. Perhaps it was a quantum shift in reality, but it's clearly a stand-in for nuclear power- something that New Zealand banned around the time of the film. A thin vein of Anti-American Big Brotherism thus hangs over the film.
The film owes much to prior Last Man films- such as the obligatory scenes of a shopping spree at a shopping mall (Dawn Of The Dead), the scenes in the church (The Last Man On Earth), sexual tensions between two men over the last woman (The Last Woman On Earth), racial tensions (The World, The Flesh, And The Devil), political brinksmanship backfiring (On The Beach), the Earth changed, but still the Earth (Planet Of The Apes), and there are also some great scenes unique to it- such as an airplane that seemingly fell from the sky and crashed into a building. But, the Dumbest Possible Action tropes- such as Api almost killing Zac in a car chase, or Zac simply not telling Api of Project Flashlight, and their shared assumptions that they alone are the survivors, is simply untenable- even if one suspends much disbelief. After all, if there are at least three survivors in Auckland alone, there would likely be dozens in New Zealand, and several thousand around the world- more than enough to repopulate the world; and worth seeking out. This is yet another unredeemed cliché of the Last Man genre.
Yet, despite all its flaws, I like this film more than I should, in relation to its artistic quality; possibly because in its flaws are the possibilities of what might have been a great sci fi film, in the hands of a better director with a better screenplay. As it is, though, The Quiet Earth is merely a satisfactory entry in the Last Man On Earth sub-subgenre. But, in a medium where even mere satisfaction is so rare, why complain too much?
September 19, 2008

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