He Was a Quiet Man (2007)

I can't claim to have had any high hopes or expectations for this movie, but the synopsis seemed somewhat interesting, so I gave it a chance. And doing that was a win on my part, because this movie was entertaining and so well-told by director Frank A. Cappello.The story is about Bob Maconel who is planning a shooting at his dead end job, being tired of being a nobody, a joke, an outcast and a faceless being in the crowd. As he is mustering up the courage to initiate his plan, someone beats him to it, and the day takes on a very different turn for Bob.This is without a doubt the best performance from Christian Slater that I have ever seen. He nailed this role and character right on the head, and he really carried the movie quite well. Alongside him was Elisha Cuthbert whom also put on a great performance.There isn't a dull moment throughout this movie and I was more than entertained throughout the course of "He Was a Quiet Man". And this movie is well-worth sitting down to watch. There is a great continuous flow to the story and you really get sucked into the storyline right from the very beginning, because of the acting performances and the great directorial work.

"He Was a Quiet Man" is an incredibly frustrating film. I saw half of it one night and the next day, I was telling my friends all about it. However, when I later went back and finished the film, this wonderful film turned sour...very sour. I hate it when you are hooked by a film--only to have the ending completely fall apart. This is because, believe it or not, through much of the film it seems like a very, very dark romantic-comedy--an odd thing, I know, but it WORKED. However, later in the film, the comedy was gone and the film simply became a dark and depressing mess.Christian Slater plays Bob--a psychotic who carries a gun to work in his briefcase. Regularly, he loads and unloads the gun--struggling within himself whether or not to murder his coworkers. Then, one day the unexpected happens. As he's loading his gun, he drops a bullet on the floor and bends down to pick it up--at which time ANOTHER crazed employee goes on a killing spree of his own!! When Bob gets off the floor, he's staring at the murderer. But instead of just shooting Bob, the two talk in a very weird and surreal manner. Ultimately, when the guy then talks of killing Bob, Bob shoots the guy first--and becomes an instant hero.What happens next is very funny--in a dark and inappropriate manner. It also, oddly, becomes a romance, as a co-worker who was paralyzed in the shooting soon falls in love with Bob...and vice-versa. It's all very cute and soon you see Bob come out of his shell and become a much healthier person. It all sound strange but cute--sort of like a Bryan Fuller show like "Pushing Daisies" (it has very similar colors, sensitivities and style). Well, this is the case--until late in the film when this entire mood vanishes and the movie is just dark and unpleasant. Clearly, the ending, if done differently, could have made this a GREAT film. As it is, however, it's just maddeningly frustrating.

A Dark Character Study that is a well Crafted, superbly Acted, smartly Directed, Offbeat, and somewhat Depressing Film. Christian Slater plays against Type and does so with intense, uncanny Verisimilitude. This should have been a second wind Career changer, but His Performance and the Movie were ignored, dismissed, and unrecognized.To this Day it collects dust on shelves everywhere and exists anonymously wherever Discs are Rented, Sold, or exchanged. It deserves so much more because although the Story maybe a bit familiar and its Twists not as Fresh as they used to be, it is still a gripping Psychological Study that is Timeless and Relevant. It goes about its Therapeutic Theme with Style and Insight. The Ending has taken the brunt of attacks from those who have seen it as ambiguous and unsatisfying, but it is not all that. In fact, it is a straightforward conclusion and rests on the inevitable Fate of the Failure of a Quiet Man and His frustrating existence in the cold Cubicle World of the Fortune Five Hundred that has no place for a Man who just wanted to be acknowledged for nothing more than being.

This movie grew on me. After about the first third of it I was practically ready to give up on it. It had a few scenes that used dark humour effectively, but was mostly just bizarre. Bob (brilliantly played by Christian Slater) was an office grunt, doing the mindless, repetitive, soul-numbingly boring work that no one wants to do but someone has to do, either looked down upon or ignored by his co-workers - a guy with no friends or social life who talks to his fish and one day brings a gun to work, ready to "go postal." In an interesting turn of events, another office grunt has exactly the same feelings, and beats Bob to the postal punch, so to speak, shooting up the office, until Bob uses his own gun to kill him. Bob suddenly finds himself the toast of the town and the office hero - everybody's friend, promoted to "Vice President of Creative Thinking" with a fancy office and big salary, and the object of the office slut's desires. There was a kind of surreal quality to all that, however, that really hadn't appealed to me very much, although the concept was interesting. Where the movie really took off, though, was in depicting the evolution of the relationship between Bob and Venessa (Elisha Cuthbert) - who was left paralyzed in the shooting. At first angry that Bob had saved her life (because she would rather be dead than paralyzed) Venessa eventually connects with Bob. They become friends, then boyfriend/girlfriend, with Bob her protector; the one who cares for her and takes care of her; her "spoon" as Mr. Shelby (William H. Macy) calls him (ie, the one who has to feed her.) The evolution of that relationship was fascinating in itself to watch. Slater did a great job as a guy who's only barely (if that) in touch with reality, while Cuthbert was effective as a beautiful woman who had used her beauty and sexuality to work her way up the ladder, only to have it all taken away from her. Once it gets going, all that would have been an interesting enough study in itself. Then comes the end.I won't give it away, but I can only say that it's one of the all time great "twist" endings that I have ever seen - and I didn't see it coming even for a moment. This is a very dark movie. At times it's funny; at times it's sad; at times it's actually very moving; it's often quite bizarre. After all that, it's a movie you definitely remember. 8/10