Quarantine

Starring: Jennifer Carpenter, Steve Harris, Jay Hernandez, Johnathon Schaech, Columbus Short, Dania Ramirez, Rade Serbedzija, Greg Germann,
Directed by: John Erick Dowdle
Rating: R
Genre: Mystery, Science Fiction, Thriller
2008

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A television host (Jennifer Carpenter) filming a show about a firefighting unit follows them to an apartment building where they soon discover the residents suffering from some strange, deadly illness. The government soon arrives, quarantining them off from the rest of the world. And, all the while, they are still filming.

Review:

Tim: Quarantine is the American remake of the Spanish thriller [Rec], but I tried to look at this in its own right. While that is not always possible, I did my best to watch this movie as a stand alone. I thought that for the most part, it is a good thriller. I liked the story, the characters, and the idea behind the movie. However, I have to say that I liked the movie more at the beginning and in the early middle than I did at the end. While the film starts off strong, the longer the movie goes on, the more it feels cliched and actually gets annoying. I'll talk more about this in a moment, but I have to say the movie ended weaker than I would have liked.

My biggest problem with the movie actually centers around Jennifer Carpenter. This is unfortunate, because I really enjoy her on TV's "Dexter" and I was looking forward to her starring role here. She starts out quite well, bringing a good level of charisma while remaining relatable to the audience. I very much enjoyed her performance for the first 2/3 of the movie. However, as things get worse and worse, she becomes more and more hysterical. I understand this, as she is obviously freaked out, but near the end of the movie, she is absolutely annoying. She is hyperventilating, crying, screaming, moaning, and yelling, and it took my all not to turn the movie off. I understand the need to portray the level of terror she was experiencing, but I thought her constant noise making was distracting and incredibly annoying. This greatly, greatly hurt the movie in my opinion.

I did like that the film featured a pretty diverse cast of different characters all stuck together in this apartment building. It was nice seeing Jay Hernandez, Rade Serbedzija, and Greg Germann among others. However, no one besides Jennifer Carpenter really makes a huge impact on this film. I did enjoy Jay Hernandez, and I thought he did a very good job, but his impact was minimal. I wish another actor/character would have emerged as memorable in addition to Carpenter.

The story is pretty interesting, because an ordinary day suddenly and strangely turns into some very unordinary. The movie does a good job of balancing realism with the growing crazy events of the film. The terror builds slowly, until it reaches the tipping point, and then becomes almost too much to bear. While this is mostly good, I couldn't help but think that director John Erick Dowdle slightly held this movie back. There was opportunity here for a more experienced director (this is only his fourth film) to really create a frightening, unforgettable film. There are slow moments here, and moments that are maddeningly boring. You know things are going to ratchet up, but it just feels like Dowdle wasn't sure how to get to those points effectively. Instead, we oftentimes have a bit of a meandering story that feels like it is wasting time. Plus, this movie never really felt unique or original. I think it had some of those elements, but it presents itself as a rehash of old ideas (which might be fitting, since this is an American remake).

All in all, I thought Quarantine was a fairly decent thriller, although its few flaws prevent it from actually being a very good movie. For much of the film, I enjoyed myself, but the cliched ending and some annoying factors in the end convinced me this film wasn't as good as I hoped it would be. You can certainly do worse, though. I would cautiously recommend this movie.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend:
[Rec], [Rec] 2, Cloverfield