Customer Reviews

He Was a Quiet Man [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

HE WAS A QUIET MAN echoes the all too familiar news item of irrational killings in public places - here, in this country, by seemingly 'normal indistinguishable people'. Writer/director Frank A. Cappello has a good grasp on his subject matter and probably intended the rather slow movement of the film to underline the 'ordinary' situations that in a flash become extraordinary. And he has a fine cast to demonstrate his thoughts.

Bob Maconel (Christian Slater in fine distorting makeup) is a nerd, an ordinary geek who checks numbers form his sterile cubicle in a massive corporation, heckled by the 'fast guys' like Scott Harper (Jamison Jones). He loathes his life, his crumby house and unkempt lawn, and most of all the loathes the people with whom he works - except for one Vanessa (Elisha Cuthbert) who has a 'smile that lights up a room', but pays no attention to the geeky Bob. Bob is deranged, talks to his goldfish at home (and they answer back!), and plans to kill the most offensive of his fellow workers. But in the adjacent cubicle there is a like mind who beats him to the show and one morning opens fire killing five people and wounding Vanessa with a bullet to her spine that leaves her paralyzed: Bob serendipitously uses his own gun to kill the assailant and becomes a hero for the corporation.

Though Bob is unchanged in appearance or outlook he is elevated to VP of Creative Thinking under the head boss Gene Shelby (William H. Macy). He visits Vanessa in the hospital, suffers her tantrum at being a quadriplegic, but finally is called back to her bedside and sweet-talked into being her hero life-saving guardian - and more. Once Bob feels needed and perhaps 'loved' by Vanessa he begins to change, only to have unfortunate reminders of reality enter and alter his life yet again.

Though the subject matter is rather terrifying, Cappello elects to present this tale as black humor. In the hands of less competent actors it would like have been a dud, but with Christian Slater's finely nuanced performance the film takes on a powerful sheen. The line between madness and normalcy is a thin one indeed and there are many disturbing lessons to be gained from watching this small but well-done film. Grady Harp, February 08

Count me as one of those that really admire (most) of this film.

My disappointments: I don't like the fire hose volume of profanity and don't believe it represents real life as much as those justifying it want to pretend it does. And there is one rather disturbing sex scene that could have been handled differently to make the same point. These kinds of scenes aren't "real" and certainly can't compete with movies made to arouse. So, why have them?

Christian Slater is terrific as the deeply disturbed Bob Maconel. He is a cipher and used as an office whipping boy by a couple of low-level low-quality bullies passing for managers. Like many office drones, he dreams about a woman at the office. His dreamgirl is named Vanessa who notices the ceramic bobble hula girl he keeps on his cubicle, but she is too absorbed in her blazing rocket of a career to even pay attention to real people in anything but a passing manner. But she has a smile that lights up a room, as the movie keeps noting.

Bob takes his lunch on a spot where he has a view of the company skyscraper and has a little plastic box with a button so he can fantasize blowing the building to kingdom come. More disturbingly, he has a real gun with real bullets that he ritualistically loads by naming who each bullet is for. But he hasn't been able to bring himself to pull the trigger. During one performance of his rite he drops a bullet and while he is on the floor a gun is fired and people start dropping while others scream. An old man has carried out Bob's fantasy and they strike up a conversation that ends up with Bob emptying his gun in the old man.

The rest of the movie teases out how Bob is treated as a hero, is promoted, and his connection with Vanessa who was made a quadriplegic in the shooting (the shooter thought she was someone else). So, Bob has this secret that others approach but no one will really confront. Even the company shrink appears only to be be circling the core issues.

William H. Macy plays the CEO, Gene Shelby. Vanessa was an up and coming VP who reported directly to him and their relationship combined the very personal with the professional. Gene isn't really a bad guy, but just a ordinarily flawed guy running a company. Others project their own fantasies and frustrations onto him and that is a quite realistic aspect of the film. One funny aspect of the film is that Gene's desk is made up of multiple tables that are, together, somewhat larger than Rhode Island.

The way the movie is filmed handles the madness and melting realities very well. I had not seen these kinds of visual symbols before and thought they were quite effective.

Why some call this a comedy or a black comedy is beyond me. Yes, there are some comic moments, but the overall intent of the movie is serious. True, Bob carries on mutual conversations with his goldfish, but what do you expect such an isolated man who has drifted into madness to do?

I think this is a very effective movie and recommend it for the right audience (keeping my caveats in mind). For me, it was a Christian Slater tour-de-force.

Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI

This movie wasn't bad for a Slater film. "He Was A Quiet Man" (the title refers to those comments by neighbours, after they discover that kindly Mr Jones at number 23 was actually an axe murderer) is the role of a lifetime for Christian Slater, who almost disappears into his character. It's hard to believe that this watery-eyed dork is Clarence from True Romance. Bob is quite possibly the most ineffectual man you could wish to meet - he just lacks a cruel mother to make the picture complete.

And yet Bob actually isn't, in the world of the film, any worse that the dreadful people who surround him. It's an excoriating portrait of corporate culture; happy hour at the bar over the road, a few rounds at the driving range at the weekend, pointless, demeaning work. The film is no gentler on the treatment of the disabled. In particularly when Vanessa returns to the office in her wheelchair, her former colleagues talk down to her as if she was a toddler. Director Frank A Cappello frames the film to exaggerate Bob's sense of alienation in the world. Bob trudges slowly out to lunch as speeded up cars roar past him. He is often shot in extreme close-up, sweating, with a particularly attractive pimple glowing on his forehead.

In the end, though, the film fails to say anything terribly original about alienation and the modern world, other than that it's enough to drive some people crazy. And I think we knew that. A moderately entertaining oddity.

Bob (Christian Slater) starts out this movie as a very angry man about to go postal. The movie opens with him peeking over the top of his cubical in a room full of cubicals. In hand he has a loaded gun and he's wondering just who he's going to take out. He doesn't do it and back home that evening his goldfish chides him for being a coward. Yes, I said his goldfish, the fish talks to him, pushes him and Bob talks back. There's strange stuff going on in Bob's head. Another day he again has that gun at work and while loading it (it seems he loads and unloads it a lot) he drops a round. He bends down to pick it up when shooting erupts. Only problem is, it's not Bob doing the shooting. Someone else has gone postal first.

Bob, gun in hand, pops up, talks to the shooter, seems to understand him. Then he sees the shooter has hit Vanessa, the girl of his secret affections, by mistake. She's still alive and the shooter is about to take her out, but Bob takes out the shooter instead and becomes a hero. Vanessa is left paralyzed and comes to depend on Bob, even seems to fall in love with him. Bob gets a major promotion from his boss (William Macy) who had been having an affair with Vanessa, but that's in the past, she belongs to Bob now.

Throughout the movie Bob changes from the repugnant office worker he was to the kind of heroic figure his coworkers have imagined him to be and that's what, in my opinion, makes this a great movie, the way Slater pulls the audience into Bob's character, the way he makes the audience believe. However, I don't know if I quite get the ending, and I've already seen the movie three times. I guess I'll watch it again, see if I get it. I think I do. This is a good movie, destined to become a classic.

I had the pleasure of being invited to watch the screening of "He Was A Quiet Man" in LA the 15th of March at the Wilshire Fine Arts Theater. I am not a film critic therefore I can't really dissect the film and all its cinematic attributes. I can only say that the story was very cohesive and consistent. The characters were completely believable and the dialog, camera work, music, editing and special effects were first rate. The story itself is what makes this film special. I don't even want to start to recap any part of it for the readers because being a "dark comedy" requires fast transition from being taking down a serious and dramatic path only to be presented with dialog and/or visuals that instantaneously transition to comedy. That takes witty dialog, perfect timing in presentation and results in audience spontaneous reaction with laughter. This film does all those things and very well. Therefore, if I "preview" any of the film's action or twists and turns, it will utterly ruin it for you when you see it for the first time.

What this film does not do is wrap everything up in a neat package in 100 minutes. Nor do I think it is supposed to. The film and its story is very complex but not in a confusing way. What I mean is that when you walk out of the theater, the film literally continues in your head for the next 24 hours. As you will process what you saw and experienced and remember details that you might have missed or overlooked in the theater and you will experience what I call "Ah Ha" moments of understanding. I recommend that you see it with a friend that you can talk to about it over the next several days and compare impressions and observations with. Frank Cappello who wrote, directed, co-produced and even wrote the music for the movie has given his best work yet. The cast and crew responded in kind and created a real work of cinematic art for us to enjoy. If you enjoy a film that is a bit quirky, contains lots of nuance, makes you think and at the same time may expose a little of your own insecurities, I highly recommend the film as a must see - not just once but several times.

I've always liked Christian Slater, always thought he was a fine actor, but in this film he reaches new heights. He is so believable it's frightening. He plays your typical mild man who wants revenge on those who have been putting him down kind of character, but he does it so well, that he not only gets inside the skin of Bob Maconel, he takes you there as well.

Yes, Maconel doesn't have his head screwed on straight, but who does. As screwed up as Maconel is, you really, really don't like the characters who bedevil him. They're non threatening, these people Maconel dreams of killing, but seen through his eyes, you kind of don't mind it so much when the shooting starts, never mind it's not Maconel doing the shooting.

Then there's the talking goldfish and the real twist of an ending. Add all this together and you have a film that you'll be talking about around the water cooler for sometime to come. But when you're doing it, talking about this film, let's home there's not a Bob Maconel in your office.

Bob McConnell, played by Christian Slater, works away in his cubicle, the lowest and seemingly most abused office worker in his firm. He keeps a gun in his desk drawer, continually loads and unloads it, mentioning which coworker each bullet is for as he does and at home his goldfish talks to him. Needless to say, Bob has some issues.

One day at work, while loading his gun, he drops a round and he drops to the floor to find it, as shooting erupts. It seems like Bob isn't the only guy in the company who's been dreaming about going postal. Somebody else has beaten him to the draw.

Bob pops his head up and sees fellow office drone Ralf, played by David Wells, mowing down those who Bob has despised, however he also shoots Vanessa, played by Elisha Cuthbert, a girl Bob has loved from afar, so Bob takes out Ralf and becomes a hero.

This all happens in the beginning of this movie that held me captivated. Christian Slater gives a tour de force performance that took my breath away. Elisha Cuthbert is outstanding as well, I both loved and hated her. Slater though, I can't say enough about how good he is in this film. It's different, quirky dark and light all at the same time and it's got William Macy in it too. If this film were food it would by Crêpes Suzette, the kind you get in Paris in a five star restaurant on the Champs-Elysées.

Christian Slater takes on the role of the bullied office worker hopelessly infatuated with a young female colleague. His boss is verbally abusive, his colleagues remote and his personal life lonely. Other than his pet fish and TV he has no other activities once he leaves his miserable office. Even his next door neighbors are hostile.

This film is a cross between many movies we have seen in not so recent past. I keep thinking about "The Machinist" film about a man who is so delusional that he is unable to distingish his thoughts from reality. In this role, Slater brings performance that is absolutely amazing. Even his physical appearance makes him a whole new persona. I was mesmerized by the film but the ending left me wondering. That is until I saw film extras and realized that director himself had difficulty deciding on the ending. There were three alternate endings.

Performance and story are compelling. Fans of the actor William H. Macy will be delighted too. While this film may not have a mass appeal of box office smash, it is definitely worth watching.

All 5 stars! What a fantastic alternate role for a great actor. Christian Slater blew me away...never would have known it was him based on previous acting performances. And what a ride it was...just not sure if it was real or unreal...only to discover in the end that it was BOTH! And the soundtrack enhanced the mood(s). Great hidden gem! Then again...even though it was somewhat tongue-in-cheek, the creepiest part is the reality of the work environment. It may give us a different opinion of the "quiet" people in our workplace.

Bob Maconel (played by Christian Slater) is a mild mannered office worker who's fed up and plenty tired of being pushed around at work. He's a loner who secretly plans on going postal with a gun he brings to work, however before he can do it, another like him beats him to the draw, taking out a bunch of office workers and he's about to take out pretty Vanessa (played by Elisha Cuthbert), the only person at work Bob cares about, so Bob shoots the shooter and winds up being a hero. He even lands the girl.

However, there is much more to this dark comedy than mild mannered man becomes hero and gets the girl scenario. Bob is truly a man who has gone to the edge and plunged over. We see his mind in action though his talking goldfish and the fact that he watches a television that doesn't work. His relationship with his boss (played by the ever excellent William Macy) tests Bob's will. His trials with Vanessa test it more. Then there's that talking goldfish who always seems to be pressing Bob to do something he doesn't want to do.

Just about the only thing I didn't like about this film was the ending. An excellent movie, right up to the last. I can't help it, I wanted more than a flat ending.