A Quiet Place Part 2: Review by @Kush_Hayes
While you could strain spaghetti with all the holes in John Krasinskis 2018 directorial debut A Quiet Place, it was pretty universally agreed upon that the man knows how to build a scene, knows how to draw tension and generally made one of the more satisfactory films of that year. It was a great little story, with the potential to be something much larger, but we didnt need it because we were only focused on this one family and their unique placement in the story where the always looming threat is nonbiased murder monsters.
But of course no good deed can be done without the promise of a contractually obligated sequel.
Enter: A Quiet Place Part 2. Clearly lots of people wanted a sequel. I along with the director were in the minority of people who did not. However, thank god the guy is talented. I say that because the movie I didnt want to see, let alone review, is thankfully as good as its original.
Questions asked in 2018 like: How did this start, will be answered in the beginning. And one problem we gain from this is now youre getting explanations that dont add up for me. At one point a group of people, scared out of their mind, and just as confused as to what is exactly happening, are all huddled together and seemingly collectively knowing that they already have to be quiet. Chaos is unfolding outside those pine swivel doors yet everyone knows to be quiet as a mouse… until one phone starts ringing. Not everyones phone, but one phone. The tension of the scene is great. Its the logic in the scene I dont subscribe to.
That was the first minutes of Day 1.
We then skip all the way to Day 474 and the end of the previous film, Emily Blunt, standing confident with a shotgun in hand reaching out for her son. The surviving members of the Abbott Family collect what they can and set out on foot to find… Its not clear what theyre trying to find, aside from maybe another neighbor. As I write this, they could have just put out the fire and stayed. Mom is literally injured AND just gave birth maybe 90 minutes earlier.
As of this writing its been 435 days of a lockdown thats still not over and seeing the title card for Day 474 hit a little too close to home in these still dealing COVID Days. Itll be 480 days when this hits Paramount Plus.
We leave the farm because we like to put our family in more danger and sure enough danger cant wait for this family and welcomes them as soon as their path of sand runs out.
We meet Cillian Murphy, although he is present on day one, we get to hear what trauma hes experienced the last 17 months. We learn what hes done to survive. We also learn there is a radio station still broadcasting a signal but its only playing one song on loop. Millicent Simmonds gets it in her head to find the source of the signal and she goes out on her own as the rest of the family sleep. Mom begs Cillian Murphy to find her and reluctantly, he goes. But then once he catches up, he starts thinking there might be something to this 14 y/o girls plan and they set off on their adventure and we explore just a little bit of the world, or at least part of Upstate New York.
Cillian Murphy really enhances the scenes with Simmonds and those two have the best scenes of the movie. Murphys character does not know American Sign Language or any other Sign Language so we feel his frustration of trying to communicate the dangers of this existing world to his travel companion. And we even get to see these two navigate around those dangers even meeting a band of marauders who thankfully respect the rules of this movie and say nothing, including being free of terrible antagonist dialog.
When there arent dangers, we get to meet nice people like “Man on Island” played by the under utilized Djimon Hounsou. This may be hyperbole, but I feel like hes in more of the trailer than the movie. But his scene is great.
This movie, like its predecessor begs that you be 100% focused on the screen and you need a fantastic sound system. Its tension with the adults is great. Not so much with the kids. Krasinski is a helluva director, but brings nothing new to this sequel. I am begging Paramount or who ever, let this man direct a different movie. I bet he’s gonna knock it out of the park. I appreciated more Murphy. I appreciated less Blunt. Could have used more Hounsou. Am very curious to see what Simmonds does in her next feature role.
A Quiet Place Part 2 is more of what was already good, but is definitely not more.
Three Blueberries out of Five.
Rated PG-13 for terror, violence and bloody/disturbing images.
© 2021 TheBosNet Family All Rights Reserved
