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I have an intersting history with this movie, well, the first one anyways. I remember seeing the trailer for it years ago and I had no desire to see it. I'm not a huge fan of horror films. This changed when the reviews started to come out. I kind of wanted to see it. The only problem was that it came out in April of 2018, which was my sophomore year of college, when I was getting emotionally wrecked by school work. I never had the chance to see it until this past summer (or the one before the last) at a friend's house. It was fantastic The concept was so fascinating and it was executed brilliantly. I was pretty excited for the second one. However, a little thing called COVID hit and screwed everyone over. A Quiet Place Part II actually had its premiere in March of 2020, a week or so before the movie went to hell in a handbasket. Reviews and reactions were already coming out. Then it got postponed to September of the same year, only to get moved yet again. Now, the movie is actually out. Is it any good? That's what I'm here to tell you.
A Quiet Place Part II is directed by John Krasinski and stars Emily Blunt, Cillian Murphy, Millicent Simmonds, and Noah Jupe. Picking exactly where the first film left off, the Abbot family (Blunt, Simmonds, and Jupe) must now leave the safety of their home and venture out into the unknown. They soon discover that the creatures aren't the only thing to worry about. With all of that out of the way, let's dive into the review!
A Quiet Place Part II is a great movie. Period. It's honestly hard to decide if it's better than the first. What makes these movies work are the performances, which are mostly silent. Blunt is awesome as Evelyn Abbott. She now must protect her family after the events of the last film. What's interesting about her is that she's not like other characters in these types of movies. She's not completely devoid of emotion and is willing to show it with her kids. She's there to comfort them and isn't telling them to buck up and keep moving. Evelyn understands that this world is a scary place. Usually movies that have kid actors are a bit iffy, but that's not the case here. Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe do a fantastic job here. They play Regan and Marcus Abbott, respectively. Simmonds is actually deaf in real life so that adds an authenticity to the character, but she makes it her own. While doing press for Part II, Emily Blunt said that she believes Simmonds should be nominated for her role here. I think she's right. We've seen her really mature from the first one. She's gives such a great performance and does it by barely saying anything. I really want to see more from her in the future. What I really like about the family dynamic is that they take care of each other. It never feels like responsibilty falls on one person's shoulders. Each person has something to do. There's a period of time were Marcus has to take care of the baby and it's interesting to see what he does. Cillian Murphy plays Emmett, a new character. Unlike the Abbott family, he hasn't been living too comfortably during the course of the creatures' invasion. As usual Cillian Murphy does a great job. I really grew fond of him over the course of the film. Moving away from the characters, Krasinski does a great job directing this movie. He does a fantastic job with building tension. There's a scene that happens at the beginning of the movie that is truly unsettling to watch. My friend and I were squirming in our seats. I won't spoil what it was because that would ruin the impact that it has. Later on in the film there's three situations happening at the same time. The editing in this sequence is top-notch. The tension builds in one part, then switches to another. Right when the tension is built up in this new area, the scene changes again. The movie goes back and forth several times during this sequence and it's masterfully done. There were also a lot of little details that I liked. The man one has to do with Regan. Whenever we are with just her, there is no audio. It's quiet. However, as soon as another character touches her the sound fades in. I thought it was a really cool detail. The music was also well done too. It really complimented the intensity of the movie. I think I would've appreciated it more if the damn speaker in the theater I was in didn't keep crackling, though. This movie is also beautifully shot, just like the first one. Everything is crisp and you could really see the gritty details of this world. It feels lived-in. I also really liked the creatures. Their design is really interesting. What's cool in this one is that we get to see them do more. This is a light spoiler, but it was also shown in the trailers. The beginning of this movie shows what exactly happened the first day these things attacked. This sequence is wonderfully shot. We get to see what these monsters are capable of. In a way, it's a little haunting. When I was watching this movie, and the first one, I kind of laughed a little to myself. The creatures look very similar to another monster called a future predator from a show I love called Primeval. Here's what those ones look like:
It's also funny that both of these creatures can't see. The future predator has very sensitive ears. Who knows, maybe the makers of these movies were fans of the show! What I love about the creatures in this movie ties back into the creative use of sound. The monsters sound terrifying. When you hear them in the distance, you know you're in trouble.
For this movie, it's kind of hard to think of any negatives. I would've liked to have seen more of what happened in the earlier days of the invasion. I was also surprised with the use of Emily Blunt. Going in, I thought that she was going to be the main focus and we would see her do a lot more. This isn't really the case. She has stuff to do, but not to the extent that I thought. I can kind of get behind this decision because the movie goes at a really fast pace. Because of the pace, there's not a lot of time to really focus on many things. There's one part of the movie where I really wanted to know more about something. It's tough to get into because it's a spoiler. One other thing I had an issue with was there are quite a few conveniences that happen. Unfortunately, it's not something I could really elaborate on because it's a spoiler. It doesn't completely ruin the movie but it bothered me a little bit. I mentioned earlier that this film picks up right where the last one ended. This is sort of a problem. I hadn't watched the first one in a while so there were some things that I forgot about. I wish I had seen a double feature to really appreciate this movie more than I do. What's really interesting about this movie is that it's truly a part 2. It organically picks up from where the last one ended. It's cohesive. If and when (given how this one ends) a third one is made, I think it'd be really neat if the studio put together a supercut to make one big movie.
To wrap everything up, A Quiet Place Part II does show that silence is indeed golden a second time. The characters are great, the acting from everyone is amazing, the use of sound is tremendous, the tension building done by Krasinski is superb, and the creatures are awesome. The movie is held back a little bit by its belief that you just watched the first one. I was also a little bummed because Emily Blunt didn't do as much as I thought she would. Sometimes things happen a little too conveniently for our characters and I wanted to see more of the creatures' invasion. With that being said, these are very minor gripes. If I were to rate it, I'd give A Quiet Place Part II an 8.5-9/10. This movie was made to be seen in a theater. Everyone was so quiet and it really immersed you into the story. I can't wait to see it again!
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