He Was a Quiet Man Blu-ray features poor video and mediocre audio in this poor Blu-ray release
Bob Maconel is about to have a bad day. Another eight hours of sitting in a dull gray cubicle, ignored by his co-
workers, existing in a world where he feels completely out of sync. On this particularly bad day, Bob crosses the
line from potential killer to inadvertent hero and in the process saves Venessa's life. This invisible nobody saves
the object of his desire only to have her ask him to end her life.
He Was a Quiet Man is a quiet little film, an unassuming picture with limited appeal and
an
even more limited exposure, and it is now being released on Blu-ray with minimal fanfare.
Everything about the film's existence has painted the picture of a movie that's been repressed,
held
back, and not
given the opportunity to compete with the big boys of the cinematic arena. Nevertheless and in
a little twist of slight irony, the film's rather
reserved approach and limited appeal does blend right in with its primary plot and the plight of its
lead character, making it an interesting case study of life inside art imitating the exposure of said
art in the real world, in a roundabout sort of way. Wide release or not, misunderstood or not,
little seen or not, He Was a Quiet Man delivers an intriguing but ultimately sterile picture
that's takes the easy way out at the end, the film just another that seems to have everything
going for it before tossing out a curveball that many viewers will see coming as it leaves the
pitcher's hand, and to follow the baseball analogy, this hanging curve isn't hit out of the park but
is instead slapped into the outfield for a bloop single, which in and of itself is enough to make the
crowd cheer.
I could see the squirrels, and they were married...
Office drone Bob Maconel (Christian Slater, Lies & Illusions) is a
nobody at Advanced Dynamic Devices. He's mistreated by his bosses, ignored by his co-workers,
and to top it off, he lives a solitary life at home where he spends time creating matchstick art and
communicating with his pet fish. Bob has decided that a killing spree inside the office is the
answer to his problems. He's acquired a six-shot revolver, brought with him six rounds of
ammunition, and has six targets selected. Before he can start shooting, a fellow employee opens
fire and kills several before he himself is killed by Bob and the ammunition meant for a more
heinous endeavor. Bob becomes an instant sensation, loved by all, and is given a promotion and
a company car by boss Gene Shelby (William H. Macy, Fargo). One of
Bob's first assignments as the company's new "Vice President of Creative Thinking" is to visit a
fellow employee in the hospital, a young girl named Vanessa (Elisha Cuthbert, House of Wax) who
was wounded in the shooting and has been rendered paralyzed, leading to a series of events that
will either turn Bob's life around or solidify his desire to exterminate his fellow co-workers with
extreme prejudice.
No matter how the story ends, the highlight of He Was a Quiet Man is Christian Slater's
performance and the film's uncanny ability to so dangerously yet fascinatingly glance into his
twisted mind, to try and understand why it is that he's got murder on his brain and believes six
shots for six coworkers to be the solution to whatever it is that ails him. The film's approach is
simple but effective, taking viewers on a journey that doesn't answer all the questions but, and
perhaps just as effectively and arguably more importantly, examines a mind in the process of
coping with its arrival at an unimaginable destination that's visited by only the most psychotic
few rather than spending time on how it got there and why it traversed such a perilous road and
with but a singular and difficult path leading backwards towards the realm of sanity. The film
works much better in this context, allowing audiences to be immediately thrust into the shoes of
a deranged individual and witness firsthand the mishmash of his thought process and actions, to
see the
disconnect between mind, heart, and soul as they seem at constant odds as bloody fantasies and
physical actions attempt to come together but seem inhibited by some final shred of decency
and awareness that at the final moment may or may not prevent the pending atrocities. Slater
plays the part admirably and melts into the role, even though his appearance as a disheveled
fringe-type character that's
a combination of Milton in Office Space and
"D-Fens" from Falling Down seems
rather clichéd and unimaginative. Slater convinces the audience of the internal struggle within
the mind, which is the key component to the movie's several twists and turns and paramount to
an understanding of the picture's somewhat bland but nevertheless effective-in-context
conclusion.
On the technical side of the ledger, however, He Was a Quiet Man is something of a
disappointment. The picture is definitely a product of its budget; minimalist special effects that
are of a made-for-television quality are given a prominent role in the picture and tend to distract
from its tone and themes, while the dark subject matter that by its very nature is forced to
compete with a blossoming appreciation of life offers a contrast that's not handled as well as one
might have hoped considering the picture's topsy-turvy examination of life from two complete
opposite ends of the spectrum. The picture flounders a good bit at times in its important but
slightly-too-fantastical feel, but again, it makes more sense in hindsight and in context of the
overall experience than it does in the heat of the moment and upon an initial viewing. He
Was a Quiet Man is a film that some viewers may wish to give a second spin if only to try
and understand its many idiosyncrasies with the foreknowledge of where the story goes and how
it ends, and despite some technical flubs along the way, the performances and the plot are good
enough to make a second watch a pleasurable experience and a worthwhile endeavor.
He Was a Quiet Man lumbers onto Blu-ray with a serviceable 1080p, 1.78:1-framed
transfer.
The sharper scenes throughout the film take on a slightly over-processed, artificial look, but
the image does exhibit fairly strong detail in select scenes and a color palette that's not the most
natural or vibrant but certainly acceptably reproduced. However, the image often ventures into an
excessively soft and fuzzy state of existence. Various scenes even go so far to look like they were
captured on low-grade video, exhibiting a veritable absence of definition, sharpness, and object
texturing, not to mention showcasing some unsightly jagged edges, aliasing, and compression
artifacts. Fine detail can be fairly good in the more stable close-up shots; Slater's face reveals
various bumps, pores, and strands of facial hair nicely, but for the most part, He Was a Quiet
Man's 1080p transfer lacks much definition and takes on a routine, dull, and flat appearance.
Certainly plagued with an inconsistent and ever-shifting visual transfer, it's difficult to tell where
filmmaker intent and the picture's original elements end and where faults in the transfer begin.
He Was a Quiet Man fizzles on Blu-ray with a mediocre Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack; no
lossless or uncompressed options are included. This is fairly routine, dialogue-intense stuff with little
in the way of punch and excitement; the opening scenes of the film do deliver a bit of low end
information, and a few sound effects later in the film -- primarily that of a plane lumbering through
the soundstage -- offer a fairly significant amount of bass that shakes the walls but lacks the
utmost clarity associated with tighter and superior lossless efforts. Additionally, only a few surround
effects are implemented; a train seems to pass through the soundstage in one shot and is
accompanied by a decent sonic presentation that gives the sensation of the vehicle traversing
through the listening area, but the sense of space and flow is limited. The track delivers but a series
of minor supportive atmospherics in the office locale; employee chatter, ringing phones, and the like
barely register even at reference levels, leaving the listener feeling detached from the environment.
Several gunshots ring out with a puny thump that barely registers as a firearm discharge from a
purely sonic perspective. Dialogue reproduction is generally sound, but listeners shouldn't expect
much more than a straightforward presentation with He Was a Quiet Man.
Nobody remembers the guy who singled off a hanging curve but rather the guy who hit the home
run to drive him in, which is why He Was a Quiet Man is a success in and of itself but not
necessarily all that memorable in the grand scheme of things. An interesting journey into a warped
mind that's negated by a copout finale and made-for-TV special effects, He Was a Quiet Man
nevertheless works until the
end, and even then, there's enough good here -- intermixed with plenty of bad -- to make this one
worth a watch. This Starz/Anchor Bay Blu-ray release delivers a technical presentation that's a
mixed bag, both the 1080p picture and sound qualities of varying proficiencies but neither flat-out
awful. Unfortunately, the presentation is not supported by any extra content. He
was a Quiet Man is an intriguing little picture that cinephiles will want to spend 90-some
minutes with and perhaps even see twice, but the quality of the disc and absence of extras makes
this one best enjoyed as a rental.
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