Philip Noyce (Australia, 1950)
debuted with Backroads (1977), inspired by Monte Hellman’s Two Lane Blacktop and Wim Wenders’ Kings of the Road,
and the nostalgic historical drama Newsfront (1978).
Heatwave (1981) closed the trilogy of realist films.
He then spent much of the decade working for television.
Dead Calm (1989), adapted from Charles Williams' 1963 novel,
adds an erotic overtone to the old-fashioned thriller format.
A lot of stereotypes (the inept woman, the dead who doesn't die,
the tough man who finally restores peace to his family, etc)
are tolerable because they set in an unusual context: a claustrophobic
environment such as a boat, surrounded by an infinite mass of water.
The characters are alone in a world that has to mercy of the weak.
After the death of their child, a wealthy couple
(handsome husband John and a pretty wife Rae)
decides to go on a yachting
trip. As they are trying to relax and enjoy the sun and the sea, they spot
the wreckage of a boat a castaway rowing towards their yacht.
The man, Hughie, exhausted and terrified, tells them that a horrible disease
has killed everyone on his boat and he is the only survivor.
While he is resting, John rows to the wrecked boat. Hughie reveals his
true character by stealing the boat and the woman. John is left to die in
a sinking boat, and he soon finds out what really happened on it: Hughie
killed all the passengers during a monster orgy.
Rae repeatedly tries to outsmart her captor (including
offering her body to him) and eventually manages to get rid of him.
Then she desperately looks for her husband, who is surviving on a makeshift
raft. They finally reunite. But Hughie manages to return and John has to
finish him off.
Then came the action movie Blind Fury (1989), inspired by the Japanese Zatoichi film series.
Patriot Games (1992) is an adaptation of the Jack Ryan novel.
Sliver (1993) is a voyeuristic thriller that deals both with
sexual obsession and media pervasiveness.
As a thriller, it is totally ineffective. As a metaphor on the intrusive media
of the technological society, it couldn't be more trivial.
Carly is an attractive business woman who lives in an apartment building of
the big city. Jack is a colleague who is infatuated of her.
Zeke is the owner of the building and also a technology guru.
Women start dying mysteriously. Carly is seduced by Zeke even if she suspects
him. She discovers that Zeke has installed cameras in every apartment and knows
the intimate lives of all his tenants. He watches them just like watching tv.
Instead of calling the police, she gets carried by the game.
"It's like playing god". Zeke can even alert the police that a dirty old man
is molesting his stepdaughter.
Jack warns Carly that Zeke is the killer, and she accepts to set a trap for
Zeke, but Zeke manages to survive and prove his innocence, while she
accidentally kills Jack, whom the police declares the serial murderer.
Case not closed because Carly discovers a tape of Zeke making love to one
of the victims. Zeke tries in vain to stop her. She keeps watching and when
she's ready to shoot Zeke she realizes that the man who kills the woman is
indeed Jack. Then she points the revolver to the cameras and shoots them all.
Clear and Present Danger (1994) is an adaptation of Tom Clancy's novel
and Noyce's biggest commercial success.
The Saint (1997) is an espionage thriller.
The Bone Collector (1999) was another thriller.
He returned to Australia and directed
two historical dramas, Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002)
and The Quiet American (2002),
adapted from the Graham Greene novel,
and another
action movie, Salt (2010), another blockbuster.
The Giver (2014) is an adaptation of Lois Lowry's novel.
Then came two more thrillers:
Above Suspicion (2019) and
Lakewood (2021).
