The Quiet Earth Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

The Quiet Earth Blu-ray Movie Review

Being and Nothingness

Reviewed by Michael Reuben December 6, 2016

Post-apocalyptic films are a genre unto themselves, and "the last man on earth" scenario is a recurrent trope. It was the actual title for a 1964 Vincent Price picture, and the same Richard Matheson novel that inspired The Last Man on Earth also spawned The Omega Man (1971) and I Am Legend (2007). The prospect of surviving alone after a nuclear war prompted a famous Twilight Zone episode starring Burgess Meredith ("Time Enough at Last"); in the same year, a similar scenario provided a commentary on race relations in The World, the Flesh and the Devil. Variations can be found in tales about group survival from The Walking Dead to The Road to The 100.

Film Movement is offering a restored version on Blu-ray on one of this genre's lesser known classics, The Quiet Earth, which also has the distinction of being the first sci-fi film produced by the New Zealand film industry. Released to acclaim at home, but little seen in the U.S., the film was directed by Geoff Murphy, who is best known here for sequels such as Young Guns II and Under Siege 2. The screenplay, based on a novel by British-born author Craig Harrison, was co-written by the film's star, the enigmatic Bruno Lawrence.

In the town of Hamilton, New Zealand, a man who will later be identified as Zac Hobson (Lawrence) awakens in a motel room to discover that everyone has vanished. Well, almost everyone. As Zac returns to the installation where he was working on something called "Project Flashlight", he finds the lifeless body of one of his former colleagues slumped over a console. As radiation alarms sound, Zac flees the facility and begins applying his scientific and engineering skills to analyzing his newly deserted surroundings.

Project Flashlight was an endeavor of an American-led, worldwide consortium, in which the full scale of the project wasn't revealed to substations such as Zac's. Zac theorizes that someone switched on the grid, creating what he dubs "the Effect", which somehow removed all animal life from the planet—with a few key exceptions, including Zac himself. Traveling deserted streets and highways littered with abandoned vehicles and debris, Zac cannot fathom why the Effect seems to have passed him by, nor is he able to determine where all the organic life that used to inhabit the Earth may have gone. Then again, Zac cannot be entirely sure what the Effect really is or even whether it was caused by Project Flashlight. Like someone who banged on a utility pole at just the moment when the electrical grid crashes, Zac and his fellow scientists may be no more than a victim of coincidence. Maybe there is no Effect. Maybe, as someone says later in the film, "God blinked and the whole world disappeared".

After first enjoying the freedom to live wherever he chooses and take whatever he wants, Zac gradually descends into depression and despair. But then he connects with two other survivors, a young woman named Joanne (Alison Routledge) and a Māori trucker named Api. As happy as he is to be no longer alone, Zac now rediscovers how easily relationships lead to conflict, especially when the sole remaining humans are two men and one woman. A more immediate problem, however, are readings suggesting that the Effect may be ongoing, prompting the trio to conceive a desperate plan to shut it down before they too disappear.

Murphy effectively sustains a dream-like atmosphere, raising the possibility that Zac may simply be hallucinating everything he's experiencing. (He routinely suffers visions and dizzy spells.) The script of The Quiet Earth is elliptical, often withholding information so that the viewer has to study the events onscreen, looking for the same clues and asking the same questions as the characters. Why do these three remain? Why do they occasionally find bodies of others that the Effect left behind, and why are only some of them infested with maggots (since all the animal life has also disappeared)? The Quiet Earth provides a few tentative answers, but it's much more concerned with placing the viewer in the same bewildered and unstable frame of mind as Zac, Joanne and Api. The film's conclusion, which is indirectly foreshadowed in the opening shot, is visually stunning—and incomprehensible. The Quiet Earth is the rare film (like 2001) that leaves you dramatically satisfied but intellectually perplexed.

The Quiet Earth Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Quiet Earth was shot on film by New Zealand cinematographer James Bartle. Film Movement's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray is billed as the product of a new 2K digital restoration. The source material appears to be in very good shape (or has been digitally repaired), and color correction has preserved the film's contrast between the naturalistic hues of Zac Hobson's deserted world and the intensely bright, richly saturated colors of the visions induced by "the Effect" (initiated by the sustained opening shot of an intense yellow-and-orange sunrise). The image is sufficiently detailed to effectively convey the expansive landscapes through which Zac wanders alone and the elaborate machinery (much of it quaintly analog) of the facility where he worked on Project Flashlight. However, some degree of filtering appears to have been applied, smoothing out the film's grain structure and resulting in a slight smearing of detail, especially in long shots. Of greater concern is a consistent over-brightening that often turns blacks to dark gray and reduces contrast and depth. Neither of these problems are so severe as to spoil the viewing experience, but individual tolerances (and calibrations) may vary.

Film Movement has given The Quiet Earth a capable encode with a high average bitrate of just under 35 Mbps.

The Quiet Earth Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Quiet Earth was released in Dolby Stereo, which has been remixed for 5.1 and presented in a choice of lossless DTS-HD MA or lossy Dolby Digital. The remix gently expands the soundtrack into the surrounds, with an occasional pan from front to back, an enhanced sense of environmental ambiance and a larger presence for the electronic score by John Charles (Utu), but the film's main action remains firmly in front. The dialogue is clearly rendered, but it can be challenging for viewers unaccustomed to New Zealand intonations (Pete Smith's Api has the thickest accent). Unfortunately, there are no subtitles.

The Quiet Earth Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary by Neil deGrasse Tyson and Odie Henderson: If you are buying this disc for the commentary, prepare to be disappointed. There's more dead air than talk, and the contributions by Henderson, who identifies himself as a critic for RogerEbert.com, are superficial and frivolous. (Example: "Boy, I wish I had this lawnmower when I was a kid! Hey, is that a Macintosh?") Tyson, when he does speak, is his usual articulate, enthusiastic self, but there's too little of him. Henderson wastes the opportunity to question the eminent scholar about the film's underlying science—or even to ask why The Quiet Earth is one of Tyson's favorite sci-fi films.



• Trailers (1080p): Trailers marked with an asterisk also play at startup. Note that these are Film Movement trailers and not necessarily original trailers.
• The Quiet Earth
• *Kamikaze '89
• *Violent Cop
• *Boiling Point
• Antonia's Line
• The Pillow Book
• Schneider vs. Bax
• *About Film Movement



• Booklet: The enclosed booklet contains a detailed essay on the film by Professor Teresa Heffernan, as well as stills, a chapter listing and credits.

The Quiet Earth Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Quiet Earth is the rare science fiction film that draws the viewer into an alternative reality where nothing can be taken for granted. That unsettling sense of dislocation is hard to find in contemporary sci-fi, which too often lapses into genre cliches. Recommended, despite a less-than-ideal video presentation.