Review of The Quiet Earth (1985) by Sean L — 17 Feb 2012

Straightforward Australian science fiction from the mid 1980s with more interest in concept than storytelling. Zac Hobson, a balding government lab grunt, wakes up one morning to discover every other human being on the planet has suddenly, spontaneously, vanished into thin air.

Naturally the first place he goes is the office, where it quickly becomes clear that the project he'd been working on - a large-scale theoretical WMD - was successfully deployed while he slept. Given the quality and costs of special effects at the time, the film's decision to focus on the eerie aftermath is prescient, but for that kind of direction to work requires an engaging, interesting thread or two as compensation.

Instead, this is basically an exercise in pointless wheel spinning. Like a kid in a candy store, Zac lives the high life for the next hour, aimlessly enjoying the remnants of society and doing everything he was too polite to imagine when the streets were still busy.

Even the grand finale, in which he finally decides to get up and do something of consequence, is ultimately pointless and harshly under-explained. I really shouldn't have been surprised, but it's always disappointing when a premise with promise sputters out before going anywhere.