Geoff Murphy
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Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)
Directed by Taika Waititi
influenced by Goodbye Pork Pie (1981)
Plot
Remainder of the pic is a backwoods manhunt that’s both a salute to and gentle parody of several late 1970s-early ’80s Kiwi classics, with specific references not just to “Dogs” but also “Goodbye Pork Pie,” “Smash Palace” and more.
It's intriguing too that Neill, the man who who coined the term "cinema of unease", starts off the movie as if he's wandered in from Vincent Ward's Vigil into a laugh-out-loud movie that makes plenty of references to the crowd-pleasing Kiwi movies of the late 70s and 80s - like Sleeping Dogs (in which Neill got chased around the bush, as he is here) and Goodbye Pork Pie.
A fawn sprouts pink flowers from its horns, crystal structures rise from the sand (a visual that reminds us of 1985’s The Quiet Earth).
Apocalyptic in a way that reminds of Geoff Murphy's The Quiet Earth and legendary British novelist John Wyndham's ( The Day of the Triffids ) end-of-days ethic, the picture resolves ultimately as something of a forced morality play and a cautionary fable about man's inhumanity to man.
When I read he was from New Zealand, I was reminded of a 1985 New Zealand science fiction film that is similarly low-key, called "The Quiet Earth."
So we’ve got Short Circuit , WALL-E , The Road and The Quiet Earth as the most obvious reference points.
We either go down in flames, screaming, in bombastic spectacles like Independence Day and 2012 or we are extinguished with a little more dignity and grace, contemplating the fragility of our humanity and our place in the scheme of things in films such as The Quiet Earth and Z for Zachariah .
Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012)
Directed by Lorene Scafaria
influenced by The Quiet Earth (1985)
Themes
There have been gentle apocalypses before, to be sure, like 1985's lyrical " The Quiet Earth ," the excellent " Last Night " (a 1998 film I love so much I had to work to get past my initial knee-jerk unfounded resentment over this film's seeming resemblance to it) and many more.
The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (2013)
Directed by Harald Zwart
influenced by Blind Side (1993)
Blind Side and Mirror Mirror star Lily Collins is overqualified for her role, bringing real gravitas and emotion to a performance that is ultimately doomed by the movie around it.
Olympus Has Fallen (2013)
Directed by Antoine Fuqua
influenced by Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995)
Plot
“If you ever longed for the days when Under Siege 2: Dark Territory reigned supreme, then congratulations, because Olympus Has Fallen.”
Ditto the not-made-for-TV When the Wind Blows, The Quiet Earth, and On the Beach.
Hell or High Water (2016)
Directed by David Mackenzie
influenced by Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995)
Fail to find your own voice though and you end up with the likes of Under Siege 2: Dark Territory and Speed 2: Cruise Control .
After an inauspicious opening act in the 90s, in which he co-wrote Steven Seagals Under Siege 2 and made the David Schwimmer vehicle The Pallbearer, Reeves reinvented himself on television as J.J. Abrams Felicity co-creator.
The Mothman Prophecies (2002)
Directed by Mark Pellington
influenced by Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995)
It seems that director Mark Pellington (Arlington Road, Single Video Theory) is so concerned with establishing the look and feel of the movie that he and adapter Richard Hatem (Under Siege 2) forgot to complete the adaptation.
Although director Mark Pellington ("Arlington Road," "Going All the Way") unwisely uses all sorts of weird camera angles, edits and sounds in an effort to portray the confusion the protagonist and townsfolk are experiencing and the glimpses of the title figure, he, screenwriter Richard Hatem ("Under Siege 2: Dark Territory") and the rest of the crew do manage to create some creepy scenes and an effective, eerie aura to the proceedings.
The screenplay is by Richard Hatem ("Under Siege 2: Dark Territory").