The Quiet Earth Movie Review

The Quiet Earth (1985)

Rent The Quiet Earth on Amazon Video // Buy the novel
Written by: Craig Harrison (novel), Bill Baer & Bruno Lawrence & Sam Pillsbury (written by)
Directed by: Geoff Murphy
Starring: Bruno Lawrence, Alison Routledge, Pete Smith
Rated: PG-13
Watch the trailer

Plot
When everyone around him vanishes overnight, scientist Zac Hobson finds himself alone in the world.

Verdict
Few movies make you ask questions. This does that, and I've seen parts of this in later movies, often not done as well. What would you do if you were the last person left? Humans weren't meant to be alone, but even a group of humans has problems.
It helps to be a sci-fi fan, but be forewarned the second half has a change in tone.
Watch it.

Review
28 Days Later (2002) had to take inspiration from this movie. Both begin with the protagonist waking up to an empty planet. In The Quiet Earth, that's proceeded by a very long rising sun shot. We don't know what happened to everyone, but Zac is a scientist and his project might be the cause.

Zac wrestles with being the last person on Earth. I wondered what I would do. Zac follows the usual route of overtaking a nice house and driving new cars, but he's also hoping to find someone. He roams the streets, falling into despair then becoming angry.
At one point I wondered if the animals were gone, but apparently they are.
Eventually Zac becomes delusional, talking to himself and proclaiming to be president of Earth.

Humans are social creature, and this raises an intriguing related question. If there was no one to see art, structures, and and physical creations, would the last person do anything creative? Would they write, draw, or would art collectively die? Is the point of being creative so others can provide feedback?

The question remains, where is everyone? While Zac being alone raises a lot of questions, the second half becomes more of an action movie, where Zac has to fix everything. It's a different tone, and I was hoping the movie would really dive into the being alone aspect. The ending is ambiguous. Is it a dream, evolution, or starting over?