A Quiet Place: Day One Review: Another Solid Entry to the Franchise.

I love the first two A Quiet Place movies.
Directed by John Krasinski, the films depicted the emotionally thrilling story of a family’s survival in an apocalypse where the slightest sound could get you killed.
One thing these two movies did especially well was set up a world of potential stories about other survivors’ experiences.
Well, we got the first of these spin off stories with A Quiet Place: Day One.

We see society quickly fall apart when the creatures arrive.

This time directed by Michael Sarnoski, with Krasinski writing and producing the film, Day One follows Sam (Lupita Nyong’o), a terminal cancer patient who is caught up in the chaos of the alien invasion.
Sam presents a unique perspective to the world of A Quiet Place because, while everyone else is trying to survive, Sam is simply trying to last long enough to experience a joy she had in life prior to her diagnosis.

Sam’s goal is surprisingly relatable, and Nyong’o plays her well.

Joining her is the cat Frodo, and a fellow survivor named Eric, played by Joseph Quinn.
Quinn had his breakout role in Stranger Things, and it is good to see him doing another great job in Day One.
He and Nyong’o have excellent chemistry, perfectly portraying the friendship that emerges between them in the apocalypse.
This results in quite a few emotional scenes, as well as some nail-biting ones, since I cared about both of their fates.

The film follows Sam and Eric, as their bond grows while they desperately try to survive.

Although, nail biting is probably too strong of a word, considering that doing so would literally get me killed in the world of A Quiet Place.
Just like the previous two films, Day One finds creative ways to use sound, resulting in numerous tense scenes where you either wait for the creatures to strike, or hope that the sound the characters made were out of the monsters’ earshot.
Another thing taken from A Quiet Place Part 2 is Henri, played by Djimon Hounsou.
He plays a significant role in the beginning of the film, and it was good to see him again after the small role he played in Part 2.

His appearance in *Day One* makes me hopeful we might see some characters from this film appear in *A Quiet Place Part 3.*

So, I have listed all the good things about Day One and now it is time for my criticisms.
They are pretty minor but still there.
The first of these issues is that I wish we got to see the characters realizing that the aliens respond to sound.
Sam is just knocked unconscious and when she wakes up again all the characters are immediately told how to survive.

I would have liked it more if there was a slow build to the realization of sound being key to survival.

Another minor issue I have is Frodo.
Yes, the cat is cute, but it is pretty unbelievable that it stays quiet the whole movie.
Like I said, minor issues, but nothing that derails the movie.
Day One is another solid entry in the A Quiet Place franchise.
It has great performances from the two leads, incredibly tense scenes, and an emotional ending to boot.
I still cannot wait for A Quiet Place Part 3, and I am interested to see if Day One influences it in any way.

A Quiet Place Part 2, Review: An Intense Theater Experience.

I loved A Quiet Place when I first saw it in theaters and my appreciation for it has only increased as the years have gone by.
So, obviously, I was very excited for the sequel, once again directed by John Krasinski.
But then, of course, COVID hit and the film was delayed, until recently.
Well, I just saw A Quiet Place Part 2 and can say that it is a worthy sequel, which I quite enjoyed.
I do prefer the original, but Part 2 is still a great follow up that provided an intense experience that needs to be seen in theaters.
As the trailers revealed, the film begins by cutting to day one of the alien attack, where it is interesting to see how the Abbott family survived the invasion.
From here, Part 2 moves to the present, right after the events of the first film as Evelyn (Emily Blunt), Regan (Millicent Simmonds), Marcus (Noah Jupe), and the newly born baby, are forced to leave their home, now armed with the knowledge of how to kill the aliens.
Coming across another survivor named Emmett (Cillian Murphy), the family come to realize that the aliens are not the only threat, but people are as well.

Murphy does an excellent job as the isolated and traumatised Emmett.

A Quiet Place Part 2 has stellar acting across the board, with each of the cast providing a standout moment.
Blunt portrays her character’s grief of recently losing her husband excellently, and Jupe delivers a harrowing moment during the first act of the film expertly.
The standouts, though, are definitely Simmonds and Murphy.
I would actually argue that Regan is the main character of this film, as she tries to live up to her father Lee’s legacy, following his tragic sacrifice at the end of the first film.
As for Murphy, he also does a fantastic job as Emmett, portraying his trauma well, and I really liked the slow bond that grew between his character and Regan.

I would have preferred to see a bit more of Emmett, though.
We get to see how the Abbott’s experienced day one and I kind of wanted to see Emmett’s story, leading up to him meeting the Abbott’s in Part 2.
Along with the great acting, the feeling of intensity from the original film is, thankfully, still present here.
I found myself often gripping the chair I was sitting on in scenes where the characters desperately tried to stay quiet to keep away the aliens.
This involved various scenes with intercutting, as each of the separated characters found themselves in mortal danger where the slightest noise could mean their inevitable deaths.
It was amazingly edited togethor.

Just when you think one character is done for, the scene cuts to another character in a situation somehow even more dangerous that the other one’s.

As for the ending, it ends abruptly, like the first, only I would say more so.
Even though the ending to the first film felt abrupt, it was satisfying enough to the point that it didn’t feel like a sequel was necessary.
This ending, on the other hand, definitely needs to be followed up on with a Part 3.
Maybe they could give us more of Emmett’s backstory in this potential sequel.
Either way, I do find A Quiet Place Part 2 to be a worthy sequel.
It has great acting and delivers many intense scenes that are best viewed in theaters to deliver their full effect.

A Quiet Place: Set Ups, Payoffs and Jump Scares.

A Quiet Place, directed by John Krasinski, feels like a lot like 2018’s version of Get Out.
A smart horror movie with brilliant setup and payoffs.
Set in a post apocalyptic world where monsters that look like the Demogorgon from Stranger Things hunt humans who make any sound.
The Abbott family has learned to survive by being quiet though, most likely due to the deaf daughter of the family, Regan, played by Millicent Simmonds.
Right from the get-go, A Quiet Place is filled to the brim with tension.
The fact that the slightest sound could mean certain death for the characters is set up brilliantly in the opening minutes and really sets the stage for the pure, adrenaline fueled terror that is to follow.

This terror is further amplified by how much you come to care for the Abbott family, which is a success in of itself because they mostly talk through sign language.
The father, Lee, played by Krasinski himself, is especially likeable and so was his pregnant wife, Evelyn, played by Emily Blunt, who is actually Kransinski’s wife (although why their characters decided to have a baby in a world where any sound means an immanent and painful death is beyond me).
I also liked Regan and the other child, Marcus, played by Noah Jupe.
Coming to care about these characters over the course of the film really made it scarier because I feared for their safety.
This was proven for me when I found myself crying near the end of the film, you will know what scene I am talking about when you see it.
However, even though this film was a terrifying and intense ride, its scare factor was dulled by one thing.
The constant use of jump scares.
Jump scares can work for some films, like with IT last year, but A Quiet Place did not need them.
A Quiet Place uses sound brilliantly so it would have sense and been more unsettling had there not been a resounding boom of noise every time one of the monsters appeared.
Even worse, a lot of these were false jump scares where nothing bad was happening.
Jump scares are fine in some instances but false jump scares never are.
No one is impressed by them and I counted at least four instances of them.

It really is a shame because without the jump scares A Quiet Place would have been a five star film for me.
It is a non-stop, intense thrill ride with likeable characters and brilliant set ups and payoffs.