A Quiet Place Part II
/“Silence is Not Enough”
Filmology Rating: 3.25 out of 4
When A Quiet Place came out in 2018 it made us all realize how much silence can frighten us. It’s one of the greatest unknowns, just not knowing what danger could be lurking around the corner or just having to keep our opinions quiet when we desperately want to share them. Director and writer John Krasinski returns with his outstanding cast for A Quiet Place Part II but does this film deliver the same chills as the first film or should it have just remained a quiet thought in the director's mind?
Taking place just a few minutes after A Quiet Place ended, the Abbott family led by Evelyn, played by Emily Blunt, journeys from their now broken family home to find safety in the greater world. The family soon quickly realizes that it’s not only the sound hunting monsters they have to worry about but it’s the rest of humanity who might have turned into their worst selves.
Time to admit that I didn’t do my homework, I wasn’t able to journey back to watch A Quiet Place. Even with the pandemic pushing back the release date, I still wasn’t able to come up with the time for a movie rerelease, so I’m attempting to remember the previous films with vague memories. I did also check out my review for the first installment; which if you want to read you can do so here.
The film starts out with a bang. The world building during the opening is just phenomenal and the authenticity is what helps create the tension during the flashback. While you as the audience member knows that none of these main characters during the flashback are in any danger, the scene just helps create the tension and confusion that can come when the unknown comes crashing into our lives. Just look at this past year and what we have all gone through. It’s been incredibly confusing and frightening; family members separated and tens of thousands have died. Something that feels like an unstoppable force wreaking havoc on our ways of life feels more relatable than I ever thought it could. While at no fault to director John Krasinski this could come across as a detriment to the film for some people. Movie theaters are finally starting to fully open and most of the world wants a sense of escapism rather than watching more tragedy on the big screen. Yes, watching the situations during the opening ten minutes is completely engaging when looking at it in the vacuum of the film but I just have a feeling that this might not be what many people are currently having an appetite for.
The end of the second act of the film left me wanting to pull my hair out. It features cross cutting between three different stories/characters and one of the three is clearly more dramatic than the others but Krasinski attempts to make them all feel that they have equal weight. I don’t want to spoil the events occurring but I felt the balloon quickly deflate with each cut. It felt like Krasinski didn’t trust each story to give them the proper time that they deserved. Just imagine this being an anthology type story with each story being a small segment of the film and you later as the audience member have to piece the story back together. Sadly nothing in A Quiet Place Part II wants to challenge the audience, it takes the beats from the first film and just delivers the same tension.
Many people complain about the Marvel Cinematic Universe and how it feels like an overlong television show on the big screen. If any of those people watch A Quiet Place Part II and don’t have the same critic, they should cut their own tongue out for being such hypocrites. At least all of the MCU films have a definitive ending while teasing what is in store with upcoming projects; while A Quiet Place Part II feels like Krasinski and crew ran out of money and forgot that they need to have a conclusion to the story. Maybe my screening was just missing a reel of film but since I also saw the credits roll I would like to think that I saw the entire film. Please understand my sarcasm. I like to have dimensional characters and it doesn’t seem that any of the characters actually grow during this film, from frame one until the last frame it seems that our core characters are the exact same.
Like much of the world I have become more cynical during these past few years. The world just seems to be getting more difficult to maneuver. So I should be excited to watch a family overcome these terrifying monsters that have upended their lives but I never seemed to root for them nor was I clamoring for their demise. I was simply left feeling apathetic towards them, which is one of the great sins that a movie can create. While A Quiet Place Part II does have some amazing highs, it also suffers from fatigue and just some questionable story beats that will leave you wondering if you want to continue with this silent journey.
Rating: Rent It
-Jonny G