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103 reviews in total

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67 out of 81 people found the following review useful:
Good Science Fiction, 14 March 2001
Author: caspian1978 from Boston, MA

If you're looking for a science fiction flick that has nothing to do with little green aliens or intergalactic civil war, check out this film. A terrific story about a man waking up to find out that everybody in the world is gone. Vanished! He is the only one on Earth. A great part of the film deals with the struggle of having to be alone. Very original, very interesting, and very entertaining. Check it out.

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60 out of 69 people found the following review useful:
Engaging, 30 July 2001

Author: BlackMonk from USA

An engaging sci-fi drama about a man who awakens to find himself, seemingly, the last person alive on earth. What does he do? What would you do? Everything's free. You could drive what you want. Wear what you want. Live in the fanciest hotel or simply pick a house to move in to. No laws to obey except those imposed by reality.

But might it not get lonely? And what if you did find someone else?

I plucked this movie off the rental rack on a whim, not expecting much really, but I was pleasantly surprised. By no means was it a 'great' movie, but I think virtually anyone would find it interesting--certainly more so than the claptrap currently being churned out by Hollywood.

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38 out of 42 people found the following review useful:
I Always Liked This Movie, 25 October 2004

Author: Sean Haffner from Stratford, Connecticut, USA

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I first saw "The Quiet Earth" on Cinemax in the late-1980's (every Wednesday night, Cinemax would show foreign films). Yeah...as many other users have pointed out, this isn't your typical sci-fi flick (no monsters, no extended action scenes). But this movie is unique in that way -- it's a sci-fi flick without much sci-fi in it.

Don't get me wrong -- I'm a huge sci-fi geek -- but the thing that kept my interest while I was watching this movie the first time (and what makes it stick in my mind to this day) is the realistic way this movie deals with a totally unrealistic subject. Bruno Lawrence's reactions to his situation were not your usual Hollywood teen flick "Hey, there's nobody else in the world...let's party!" reaction. Instead, you see Zac (Lawrence) change from a man who couldn't care less about people into someone so desperate for companionship that it drives him temporarily insane (to the point of where he thinks that he's God).

Yeah...strangely enough, the addition of other characters into the picture actually hurts the story a bit, but it also allows Zac to explain to everyone what may have caused the world's population to disappear. It also gives Zac a reason to try to right a wrong that he had a hand in (thus redeeming himself).

The amazing beach/planet-rise visual at the very end of the movie is an image that has stuck in my head for all of these years. It's one of the few actual sci-fi elements in the film, and it has a great look to it (almost a modernized version of those classic "Forbidden Planet" backdrops). As enigmatic as the ending is, I always felt that it was a perfect ending for a movie that had an enigmatic beginning -- it basically brings the movie full-circle.

Sure, "The Quiet Earth" isn't your classic sci-fi movie...and it definitely is NOT for all sci-fi fans, but if you're looking for something different without all of the overdone Hollywood flash, you may want to check it out. I'm on a bit of a search thru my local DVD stores to find a copy of it, myself (I'm sure I'll find it in one of the bargain bins...because I doubt any video store manager will appreciate the quality of this forgotten gem).

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35 out of 37 people found the following review useful:
Inbalanced Rationale, 18 December 1998

Author: Magnet-2 from Nottingham, England

I should begin by stating that I LOVE this film, which may explain, if not justify the following comments.

This is an excellent exploration of the human mind in a fantastic situation, but more simply just a damn good science fiction thriller.

I would agree that the first half is the better part, but to those who criticise the second half as being cliched and unstructured I would argue that a new impetus is needed by the time Zac has lived out his various fantasies and flirted with insanity.

Where many appear to feel the film is confused and leaves many matters unresolved, that very ambiguity and bewilderment was what I enjoyed most. For most of the film you DON'T know where the characters have found themselves, whether they are actually alive or dead, or what reality they're living in.

In accordance with this fascination I found the ending superb, accompanied as it was by that haunting theme music. Maybe it came as a result of the writer not knowing how to end the thing but it was never going to be a film where everything fell into place by a few cunningly worded lines at the conclusion! Therefore I liked the fact things were left unexplained, unsatisfying though it may be.

In short, I would definitely recommend this film, which seems to be dusted off and screened late at night on a regular basis by BBC 2 (English terrestrial channel). I know it won't appeal to everyone, but there will be those surrealists who do love it, if only as a fun and bizarre Sci-fi.

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36 out of 39 people found the following review useful:
Hope over Hell, 26 July 2004
Author: (thorn-19) from Virginia

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

This was one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. Instead of being yet another it's-the-end-of-the-world-so-let's-kill-everyone-left movie it beautifully illustrates human hope, self-realization and sacrifice.

We begin with Zac in his depressed, selfish self. On day one, we get a taste of how Zac must have treated the world when people were in it. Now that the people are gone a happier Zac moves through the Kubler-Ross stages, to the audience's amusement. Eventually he meets another person, a woman - Joanne. Joanne is the embodiment of nurturing, femininity and compromise, herself having been alone as long as Zac.

Once they find each other, Joanne and Zac form an alliance that quickly becomes romantic, quirky and easy. Then the third player arrives, Api, who seems far better prepared for living after the world has gone empty.

Two men and one woman - from the moment they all meet it's strained with only Joanne bridging the distance. Jealousy and suspicion begin, there are poignant examples of human frailty and attempts to reach out to each other, except with Zac. Zac knows something that neither Joanne or Api could possibly know and eventually, he has to tell them.

The tension of the living situation builds and hits an apex when Zac finally tells the truth, the horrifying secret that is not only the answer to how the people vanished, but to what is about to happen. The ending, Zac's decision to change who he was, to love Joanne and Api enough to put himself aside turns weirdly mystical in the final scenes.

Overall, the story is an allegory of what we do to ourselves, how we can overcome our tendencies for base, selfish behavior and learn to love. It's one movie I walked away from thinking about so much more then when I began it.

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54 out of 75 people found the following review useful:
Not for action fans, 7 July 2004

Author: Rob Taylor (Rob_Taylor) from London

This movie has little action, instead focussing on the realities of being put in a situation where you are the last person on Earth. It deals with the mental problems that might arise and one man's descent into, and ascent out of, madness.

The science behind the disappearance of the whole human population is best ignored as complete nonsense, but otherwise the movie is solid enough fare.

Likewise the non-Hollywood ending appealed to me, even if I haven't the faintest idea what happened, or why.

And if you find yourself sneering at what the hero gets up to on screen ask yourself this - What would you do if you were the last person on Earth?

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38 out of 44 people found the following review useful:
The Quiet Earth, 23 July 2005

Author: Edward Gardner from United Kingdom

This movie sticks in your mind for days. The opening scenes immediately pull you into this eerie, lifeless world as we see our hero driving around ghost towns, looking for signs of life. A terrifying concept that hooks you. There are classic moments throughout the first half of the movie as we witness the various states of madness our hero goes through before he accepts his situation and takes control. It's this part of the movie that made it a cult classic. As soon as the plot starts to thicken and the focus is taken away from his desolate existence, the magic starts to ebb. However, you are still left on the edge of your seat until you get an answer to any of the questions the story line produced. The end scene, is beautiful, perplexing but I've got to say, a bit of a cop-out. However, its' lack of answers keep you guessing. A superb, off the wall film, that stays inside you.

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41 out of 55 people found the following review useful:
WARNING! SPOILER! Explanation of ending., 12 March 2004

Author: spike_steel from USA

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I see in the comments a few people did not like / understand the ending. I'd like to rectify this if possible. Due to the first effect when the planetary energy grid was set up, the survivors "either died or were shifted sideways into a parallel dimension" (where things are slightly different) according to Zack. The question before you is "What is death?" When Zack blows up the grid (dying in the process) he finds himself on what looks like a normal Earth beach. The beach is significant because it is where Zack goes to heal after his bout of madness. He emerges from the water in the earlier scene much like a rebirth. Again in the final scene you notice the clouds are very odd, and then a ringed planet rises over the water. Is this another parallel Earth, an alien world, or heaven? This ties in with another question in the movie, whether Zack and the other scientists are responsible for the effect, or if "God just blinked, and the human race was wiped out". All this can be summarized as: What is our place in the Universe, where are we heading, and do we have any control over it? Don't reject The Quiet Earth because it leaves you with questions; this is it's best quality.

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48 out of 70 people found the following review useful:
The most incredible ending...ever, 14 February 2005

Author: niara from New York, NY

I have not seen this movie in ages.

The ending stuns me to this day.

I honestly cannot remember how I came upon this film but it was most likely in the "$1 previously viewed bin" at the old RKO Video Store on 47th Street in Manhattan.

I still own this copy and refuse to part with it, no matter how much it fetches on ebay. I sincerely hope they release a DVD here in the u.s.

Reading the other comments brought the film back to me but I remember clearly watching his descent into madness brought about by being the only one left and that ending leaves you breathless.

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22 out of 24 people found the following review useful:
Simply exceptional, 3 March 2001

Author: nemo-1 (nemo@insight.rr.com) from Columbus, OH

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

How would you handle it if you were the last person alive on the earth? This is the question posed by the Quiet Earth, also beyond this how would react knowing that an action or lack of one on your part had wiped out every living person on the face of the earth. Scientist Zack Hobson must deal with this reality when he wakes from his suicide attempt to find himself on the other side of an altered reality, alone. He at first goes quite insane, blaming himself for the accident because it was caused by the malfunction of a project that he was heading up. Later when he discovers two other "survivors" he formulates a plan that will reunite the two separated realities. The ending is one that will keep you thinking long after the credits have rolled.

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