Movie Reaction: A Quiet Place Part II

Formula: A Quiet Place - John Krasinski

 

It's tough to talk about this movie in a vacuum. For a lot of people, this is going to represent the return to movie theaters. This is the first movie I've seen in 14 months that I didn't need a mask for. It was the fullest theater I'd seen a movie in. And it's the kind of movie that I really did feel the need to see in a theater in a long time. Basically, this was the first time in a while when things felt normal to me. I had a swell of emotion toward the beginning of the movie that I didn't expect. So, A Quiet Place Part II has the benefit of that halo effect. It got my full throat endorsement before I even saw the title card.

 

I do think I'm a little cursed when it comes to this franchise. One of the speakers in my theater when I saw the first movie was clearly having issues. It was messing with the ability to hear the background scoring (which I confirmed when the same screen had a similar problem the next time I was at that theater). I didn't mind that much, because the inability to hear was kind of the point, but I do think it dulled the impact at some points. Naturally, for the sequel, early on, there's a terrific prequel portion that covers the day that the alien creatures attacked. It's a very impressive, griping sequence, but starting at the exact moment of the attack, my screening started cutting out. Not the sound. The picture. It's a real bummer, because that's hands down the best part of the movie.

 

After that flashback, Part II picks up very shortly after where the first movie left off. Evelyn (Emily Blunt) leaves the farm with her kids, Regan (Millicent Simmonds), Marcus (Noah Jupe), and the baby, who I forget the name of. They run into an old neighbor, Emmett (Cillian Murphy), who lost his family and basically fills the John Krasinski role in this movie. They split up as Regan explores a plan to broadcast her hearing aid to a larger portion of the population to fight the aliens. As you'd expect, there are many close calls where they have to stay very quiet.

 

This movie has all the thrills that made the first movie a success. Writer/director Krasinski knows the game and has fun with it. There are many tense scenes and narrowly avoided disasters. It's a nice way to kill a little over 90 minutes. Blunt remains excellent, as does Simmonds, who is carving out an impressive career in the deaf child actor sector. Cillian Murphy fits right in too.

 

I could pick at the story if I wanted. The idea that in a global crisis of this scale for so long, no one else has realized that high frequencies can be used as a weapon makes no sense. I also question the aliens' ability to navigate on a boat. Just a lot of holes best left unexplored. I was underwhelmed by the ending though. The first movie ends in a really cool place. It looks like Blunt is about to go Rambo on the aliens. They walk that back right away in this though. This movie has a similarly optimistic ending that suggests the balance is shifting in the fight. I'm now expecting them to walk that back too in a potential third installment. In a sense, the cool ending of the first movie has me pessimistic about the cool ending of the second movie. And the end does come rather abruptly. There was definitely a light chorus of "Wait, that was it?" in the theater I watched it in. This is playing for sequels, not to end it.

 

Verdict: Weakly Recommend