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Movie Review
Quarantine 2: Terminal
Directed by John Pogue (2011)
Reviewed by Mat, added on Jun 22 2011
Ah, zombies. I’m back to talking about them again! Hurray! I think I’m on a never ending quest to “get it”. I know that eventually I’ll figure out the appeal because somewhere, someday there is going to be a zombie movie that does more than be mediocre, competent filmmaking of the same stories that were told 30 years ago! Okay, I’m being sarcastic. Mostly.
Quarantine was the American remake of the Spanish film Rec about a group of people trapped inside an apartment building trying to survive as one by one they turn into rabid, rage fueled zombies. Ostensibly, they are the same movie save for the final reveal. In Rec it turns out that the virus is supernatural in origin; demon possession. In Quarantine, it’s a doomsday cult that wants to spread a virus to destroy humanity. It is unquestionable that Rec has the better reveal but since Quarantine didn’t go that route the filmmakers of the sequel must work with what they were given. So here we get doomsday cult stuff inspired more by stuff like 24 and The Event than anything remotely unique. By the way, is Rec a zombie movie if the zombies are actually demons? It’s a fine line to draw but then again, zombie fans fight amongst themselves about whether “infected” are zombies or not. Maybe we can put The Exorcist in the zombie category from now on? “But they say the word ‘virus’ in Rec so they’re zombies!!!!!” I’m only half-joking, but I digress…
Quarantine was about a group of people trapped inside an apartment building as, one by one, they succumbed to slobbering, screeching zombies. Quarantine 2: Terminal is about a group of people trapped inside an airport terminal as, one by one, they succumb to slobbering, screeching zombies. At its essential bare core plot, Terminal is the same movie. I certainly don’t have any problem with a group of people trapped in one place, and I certainly don’t have a problem with all the characters devolving into anger, bitchiness, and double cross. In fact, I like that kind of movie. To their credit, the filmmakers of Terminal do their best to try and mix things up. First, this is the first film released in the Rec series that is not a found footage POV film. It’s traditionally shot if by “traditionally” you mean “Every shot is handheld because that’s what all movies and TV shows seem to be in the 21st century.” The handheld isn’t overly distracting, it’s just noticeable distracting. And it adds to the cheap, low budget nature of the film. Second, the first 20 minutes of the movie take place on a plane and those happen to be the best 20 minutes of the movie. They introduce various characters and when a huge fat dude zombies out, it actually manages to create some harrowing, claustrophobic tension. But then they land and we get the rinse and repeat of the government putting them in quarantine, locking all their doors, shooting people who try to leave, etc. It becomes another “Lets find a way out” movie.
If you’re wondering how this relates to the original film (uh…the remake, I mean), basically one of the people on the plane is not who they appear to be and is part of the Doomsday Cult. The reveal of who it is couldn’t be more obvious. They have this grand plan to murder everyone while deciding who lives and dies because they have the cure that was developed in the original apartment laboratory from the first film. In fact, the sequel takes place at the same time as the first film. People see the news reports of the apartment building on the plane itself and it turns out one of the characters is from the apartment. It’s a logical continuation I suppose, but you can’t help but be totally uninterested in the terroristic “let’s spread a plague” story device. Yawn.
“But zombie movies are about the characters!!!!” That’s the default, tried and true defense by any zombie fan. It’s never about the zombies themselves, because hey, they all sort of look the same in every movie. They all sort of do the exact same thing. So it’s about the characters negotiating the situation. That’s a very different mindset and I don’t quite understand it. For example, just comparing it to someone who is a slasher fan, for example. A slasher fan focuses on the monster/villain and the act of the death itself is placed in high regard (an amazing kill with a unique instrument, etc.) Characters in slashers are almost secondary in importance to the atmosphere and entertainment value of the slasher. A zombie fan argues the opposite. “We like the zombies, sure, but it’s really about the trapped human characters.” The monsters are secondary, not primary. Therefore, the flaws in the hundreds of zombie films are amplified much moreso than in something like a slasher because if the importance is on the characters, then every time you see another character stereotype in a zombie film, it becomes that much more mind numbing. And with a slasher, the villain/monster can always be saved with his or her backstory and/or the way it kills people. Zombies? Mindless, limited, and they eat you. That’s about it. I blame Tom Savini for showing me everything a zombie could do 30 years ago.
So in Quarantine 2, for example, we’ve got the weak flight attendant who has to find her inner strength to lead the group. We have a whiny little kid. We have the headstrong douchebag with a gun. We have the obligatory chick who happens to be a nurse and can patch people up. You have the attractive male lead hiding a secret. You’ve got the old woman who is in over her head. You’ve got the hippie couple who like to have sex in public places. And you know, inevitably, what every arc to all these characters is going to be. They are generic, stale, and lazy. There was one character who I liked. It was an old man who was mute and nearly paralyzed from Parkinson’s. There was potential to do some cool stuff with this guy. So what do the filmmakers do? Immediately zombify him.
So if the characters suck and the zombies are what they are in every movie, then what’s left? Staleness. The mark of a tired, worn out genre. Slashers went through this phase in the 90′s. At some point the genre just needs to take a break and come back refreshed. Recently, I caught The Horde, another much ballyhooed zombie flick. I thought to myself as I watched it “Zombie fans are stretching.” I think you get to the point when there is such a lack of creativity being shown (and I’m talking about zombie films right now, maybe there is better stuff going on in other mediums) that you just gotta call it like it is. I mean, the torture subgenre. It’s done. It’s over. I’ve heard many zombie fans laugh on the tombstone of the Eli Roth’s of the world. But honestly, zombies are kind of done right now. The market is over-saturated with garbage. Now, I’m not saying people can’t enjoy zombies. Zombies are fine. And I’m not saying there can’t ever be another good zombie movie. I would argue a bigger point that zombies have been “done” since 1985, but this specific argument is simply about the recent cultural obsession with zombies that I completely blame the Dawn of the Dead remake on.
Terminal is an example of this. A movie that does nothing, says nothing, and recycles everything. No amount of acting ability (and the film does have some good performances) can cover up the one dimensional characters. It’s no longer tension to show zombies crawling around air ducts. It’s no longer interesting to see the military putting up plastic on the windows. It’s no longer interesting to see a person hiding a bite from the rest of the group. There are certainly people out there that do dig that, though. Repetition is a fundamental trait of the zombie movie and there are many who disagree with me. But I think people mistake a well made movie for a good movie. The Horde is a very slick, well made flick. Hell, the original Quarantine is a “good” film by technical standards. Much different than some low budget garbage like Children of the Living Dead. But is there really anything different between The Horde and Gangs of the Dead other than better production values? It’s all essentially the exact same thing with only minor, cosmetic variations. I guess I’m arguing that Quarantine 2: Terminal is worse off because it does nothing at all new? Fuck, I don’t even know what I’m talking about by this point.
Maybe in the end the point is that criticism of a recognizably stale, un-evolving genre is tough. My advice? Find some new ways to make zombies scary/unique/interesting. Make the monster primary rather than trying to make the characters so.
The End.
3 / 10
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