Review of Quarantine (2008) by Chads. — 10 Oct 2008

Inscribed onto the black asphalt in elongated white lettering, all in caps, is the traffic safety term "XING", a warning served to motorists about an upcoming crosswalk; "XING", as in crossing, pedestrians are crossing.

The fire truck whooshes over the marking, over the "XING", en route to an apartment complex where the 911 call was dispatched to a brigade of firemen, who were in the midst of being profiled by a flirtatious news reporter named Angela Vidal.

For sure, she's no Christine Amanpour, this one. Even as a cub reporter specializing in special interest stories, the journalist need not remit herself from performing her duty with some semblance of professionalism.

At one point, she asks, "Do firefighters still slide down poles?" It's no wonder that the men don't take her position as a media type seriously, and worse yet, neither does she. When Angela overhears a candid remark on a fireman's mic about the plans he has for her, she seems more flattered than offended.

At ground zero, at the scene of the quarantine, however, Angela gets her big break, a chance to prove her mettle as a hard-hitting reporter who can exhibit grace under pressure during a crisis. Alas, she's no Kimberly Wells(Jane Fonda) either, the special interest reporter in James Bridges' "The China Syndrome", whose story on energy production in nuclear power plants turns into an investigative report on public safety.

At the outset, Angela talks a big game, instructing her cameraman to "film it all", but the pandemonium is too much for her. Angela is speechless, when it matters the most, whereas Kimberly delivered, and in doing so, "The China Syndrome" made its case for female journalists like Amanpour, and others just like her.

(Wait! She has no peer.) "Quarantine" is indeed, an update of "The China Syndrome". The allusion to the 1979 thriller is made when that firetruck traverses over the "XING".

"Xing" is a Chinese girl's name, meaning "apricot".