The Quiet American (2002)
"The Quiet American" stars Michael
Caine and Brendan Fraser. Perhaps it would have been
more aptly entitled "The Quiet Englishman and the
Rather Discrete American." Fraser is the titular,
supposedly muted, Yank here but you'll have to whip
out your thesauruses to understand the concept of
his character. He's more supposedly "quiet" in the
sense of inconspicuous than silent.
Of course, Fraser is all wrong here.
He is way out of his league in this film. Horribly
miscast, he hems and haws his way through the role
he's been assigned like a frat boy at a funeral. This
is some of the worst casting ever. It's like putting
Leonardo Dicaprio in a film about Irish street urchins
in 19th century New York or something... Oh. Oops.
This film is directed by Phillip
Noyce and is so attuned to a political time and climate,
that you'd almost have to be a scholar of 20th century
history to get it. The film is set in Vietnam in the
1950's. If you're not a history buff, this film will
make you really work to keep track of and consider
all that is going on. Look, no one is going to "get"
this film with the exception of those enamoured with
this particular place and time of the past. And there's
not much else here for anyone accept fan club members
of Caine, Fraser, Noyce or writer Graham Greene. His
novel is the source material for this film.
I'll be honest. I don't know anything
about Graham Greene and nothing about this film made
me want to learn anything about him. I'm not even
interested enough to look on the net and see what
else he has written.
The period detail here is nice.
Caine does a decent but by no means extraordinary
job here. But the script is weak and you can see the
bad guy a mile off. Also Noyce is not much of a director
in my book and is about as subtle as being hit in
the face with a ham. Notice the ridiculous Asian sounding
glissando when the romantic female lead takes off
her top.
Certainly not horrible nor laughable,
"The Quiet American" is nonetheless only going to
be appreciated by the select few whose interest in
initially piques.
Note:
Also with Holmes Osborne.
Filmed in 1958 with Michael Redgrave
and Audie Murphy.
Viewed in Austin in December 2002
at a screening for press members.
