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He Was A Quiet Man
R0 - Australia - Accent Film Review written by and copyright: Shane Roberts & Noor Razzak (2nd January 2009). |
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The Film
 Bob Maconel (Christian Slater) is a man on the edge. His lonely and boring life is dominated by an office job he despises where he’s bullied and mistreated by his co-workers as well as his superiors, and he has decided his best revenge would be to gun them all down. On his big day he’s beaten to the punch by a co-worker who’s come to the same conclusion and, after Vanessa (Elisha Cuthbert), the girl of his dreams is caught in the crossfire, Bob uses his gun on the shooter instead. In the aftermath he’s treated as a hero by his tormentors, promoted by the boss (William H. Macy) who hadn’t known he existed, and also has a chance to get to know Vanessa who was paralysed by the shooter’s bullet. With his life now seemingly perfect, will Bob find happiness or is he too far gone? Although the cast was interesting, my expectations for this film were pretty low because of writer/director Frank A. Cappello. His name had seemed familiar to me and after a little detective work I found he only had four previous credits, all ranging from average (writer/director on "American Yakuza" (1993), a ‘B’ grade Mafia vs. Yakuza action/thriller starring a pre-fame Viggo Mortensen and "No Way Back" (1995), a ‘B’ grade FBI agent vs the Mafia action/thriller starring a pre-fame Russell Crowe), to complete garbage screenplays only (that’s enough) on ‘comedy’ "Suburban Commando" (1991) starring Hulk Hogan and "Constantine" (2005) starring Keanu Reeves. His intricate, thought-provoking and multi-layered screenplay for this film is so much better than anything else he has done that I find it hard to believe it’s the same guy. An even bigger revelation is Christian Slater. I’ve always thought he was a good actor but apart from three classics in five years: "Heathers" (1988), "Pump Up The Volume" (1990) and "True Romance" (1993) near the beginning of his career, and a few cool ones since: "Interview With The Vampire" (1994), "Broken Arrow" (1996) and "Very Bad Things" (1998) he’s been in a lot of rubbish. He often specialises in playing the big mouth, the smart ass or the rebel who stands up for himself and/or others, so to see him pull off the broken little guy who’s ready to snap so well is a real surprise. I’m inclined to agree with critics that this could be his greatest performance. At the very least, it’s his best in ten years since "Very Bad Things." I was also surprised by Elisha Cuthbert because this is the first time I’ve actually been impressed by her in any role. She was ok as Jack Bauer’s annoying daughter in "24" (2001-Present) and in "The Girl Next Door" (2004) but very average in "House of Wax" (2005), and especially the terrible "Captivity" (2007). As Bob’s dream girl Vanessa, she has a role that requires more than just looking good and has to convince as a character who is at times bitchy, manipulative, suicidal and loving, and she’s very good. William H. Macy’s screen time is relatively small but in a role that is a departure from the sad sack losers he often plays, he proves why he’s one of the best and most interesting American character actors. I hate spoilers when I’m reading film reviews, so I obviously try not to give too much away when I’m the one writing them, which made this one a little bit harder. There are similarities between this and a few other high profile films of the last 10-12 years but to mention any of them by name as a comparison would ruin this fantastic film that’s sure to gain a cult following. Let’s just say that what seems on the surface (and for the first 20 minutes) to be a fairly predictable if pretty surreal drama/black comedy turns out to have a few great surprises and you’ll probably want to watch it again to catch all the clues.
Video
Presented in the film's original theatrical ratio of 1.85:1 this anamorphic transfer is a mixed bag. To begin with sharpness isn't consistent, grain is all over the place and the black levels can be noisy. I found that the colours were not as solid as they could have been which is a shame. There's a lot that could be improved and I'm not sure what source Accent used to create this transfer but for a recent release it's a bit of a mess. The only thing it's got going for itself is that the image is clean from dirt and specks.
Audio
Presented in either English Dolby Digital 5.1 or Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo options. For the purposes f this review I chose to view the film with its 5.1 soundtrack, the soundtrack fares much better than the image quality. The dialogue is clear and distortion free, ambient sounds are well mixed throughout the sound space. The film's music adds a further layer to the overall depth of the mix. For the most part its an immersive track and suits the film rather well. There are no optional subtitles available on this disc.
Extras
Accent have only included the film's theatrical trailer plus a collection of bonus trailers. Below is a closer look at these supplements. First we've got the film's original theatrical trailer which runs for 2 minutes 22 seconds. Also there are a series of bonus trailers for other releases available through Accent and include: - "Slipstream" which runs for 2 minutes 12 seconds. - "Normal" which runs for 2 minutes 8 seconds. - "The Baker" which runs for 2 minutes 30 seconds. - "True North" which runs for 2 minutes 57 seconds. - "The Situation" which runs for 2 minutes 17 seconds. - "Extraordinary Rendition" which runs for 1 minute 52 seconds.
Overall
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