Quarantine 2: Terminal
Starring: Mercedes Masöhn, Josh Cooke, Mattie Liptak
Written and Directed By: John Pogue
****Spoilers****
The first Quarantine isn't a bad movie, it's just nearly a shot- for-shot remake of the Spanish film, Rec. It was created with roughly five times the budget, and turned out being about half as effective. Now, like Rec. 2, Quarantine 2: Terminal does take place later on the same night as the events from its predecessor, but this is where their resemblances end. Writer/Director John Pogue (Ghost Ship, Skulls) decides to make this his own beast, by putting the characters on an airplane and later locking them up in a terminal. Even a different origin is given, which completely throws away the direction of the Spanish films, and makes the American versions more of an infection/virus type movie.
A small group of passengers, 2 flight attendants and 2 pilots board a plane for a trip from Los Angeles to Nashville. During the flight, one of the passengers falls seriously ill, and has to be restrained after trying to force his way into the cockpit. The plane makes an emergency landing at an airport, where everyone from the flight is immediately quarantined inside the terminal, with zero explanation. This, of course, puts the passengers in a state of panic, wanting to know why they are being held and when they can be released. With the help of a passenger and a terminal worker, a flight attendant tries to take charge of the situation and keep everyone safe.
A small group of passengers, 2 flight attendants and 2 pilots board a plane for a trip from Los Angeles to Nashville. During the flight, one of the passengers falls seriously ill, and has to be restrained after trying to force his way into the cockpit. The plane makes an emergency landing at an airport, where everyone from the flight is immediately quarantined inside the terminal, with zero explanation. This, of course, puts the passengers in a state of panic, wanting to know why they are being held and when they can be released. With the help of a passenger and a terminal worker, a flight attendant tries to take charge of the situation and keep everyone safe.
Sony released Quarantine 2 in a limited theatrical release, but this movie still has the look and feel of a direct-to-video production painted on every frame. That's not always a bad thing, but it has about 1/3rd the budget of the first film, and it shows. The make-up FX are great, but are few and far between, and shown in quick-flash sequences. Also, the setting, which at a thought would seem more spacious than the first film's apartment building, is ultimately more confined.
The sequel throws out the “shaky-cam/found footage” approach and is treated like it is simply a movie. There are a few moments with thermal vision that emulate the first Quarantine, but the camera work itself is mostly controlled. While some viewers may be pleased with the change, others will probably groan at the lesser sense of realism.
As a director, this is John Pogues' debut. Previously, he was assistant director on The Skulls, but the bulk of his past work consists of producing and script writing. In that respect, Quarantine 2 is an admirable effort. While it's far from flawless, some amount of praise should be given, due to him writing the screenplay, as well as sitting in the director's chair. The back-story provided is surprisingly smart, and has quite a bit of legitimacy with many of the problems in the world today.
Acting is not up to par with the first film, but it's not as bad as expected, either. There's isn't a lot of character breakdown, but it's easy to put some sympathetic investment into most of them. The leading heroine is a flight attendant named Jenny, played by Mercedes Masöhn. This character is given the brutal task of taking charge of the matters at hand, and providing safety for a group that holds her responsible for the quarantine, simply because of her job title. Masöhn, plays this dramatic part well, and is easy on the eyes for an added bonus.
Josh Cooke portrays a teacher named Henry, and is at first a relationship interest for Jenny. For the first half of the movie, he's really not bad with limited tasks in his role, mostly offering help and comfort to Jenny when things go bad. However, once the story progresses, his performance begins slipping into the realm of over-the-top.
Best execution goes to Mattie Liptak, who plays George, a 13-year-old that travels from one side of the U.S. to the other, alone, to meet his parents. For the first half of the film, most of George's time is spent giving Jenny short answers and keeping his attention mostly on a portable video game. During the plot's transition, the character steps up to the plate and Liptak gives a solid performance.
Now, onto the gory carnage the horror fans love; sadly, there isn't a lot. The company behind the make-up FX is Almost Human – some of their past work includes the first Quarantine, Paranormal Activity 2, Devil, The Crazies remake, and Fear Clinic. Their background is pretty extensive and extremely impressive. While Quarantine 2 is as already mentioned, limited, the FX shown really help the film. The infected themselves have a 28 Days Later type of appearance, respectively, as they did the first go-around. Red-eyed and foaming out the mouth like a human Cujo; fierce, fast, and just totally pissed off. A large chunk of attack sequences are off-screen occurrences, but the few that viewers are blessed with are pretty nasty.
Thankfully, there are some tension filled moments to fill in the gaps for lack of gore, and it all begins right on the airplane. Once at the terminal and in lock-down mode, it's chase scenes abound, pitting the passengers in race for survival.
Fans of the first film should check this out. While it may not be an entirely fulfilling continuation of the story, it is surely pleasing to go a different route from the Rec. series. Most fans of said series will probably shun this sequel before even viewing it, and that is understandable to an extent, but it's not another rehash of an already awesome film. This is by no means horror excellence, but it's at least a fun late-night time killer. With that being said, I can't help but think that if given a higher budget with a larger release and good marketing, Quarantine 2 could probably have been at least a moderate success.
