'A Quiet Place Part II' Review
PG-13: Terror, violence, and bloody/disturbing images
Runtime: 1 Hr and 37 Minutes
Production Companies: Platinum Dunes
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Director: John Krasinski
Writer: John Krasinski
Cast: Emily Blunt, Cillian Murphy, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe, Djimon Hounsou, John Krasinski
Release Date: May 28, 2021
THEATERS ONLY
Following the deadly events at home, the Abbott family must now face the terrors of the outside world as they continue their fight for survival in silence. Forced to venture into the unknown, they quickly realize that the creatures that hunt by sound are not the only threats that lurk beyond the sand path.
A few years ago, John Krasinski went from the world of indies to the realm of horror with A Quiet Place, a tense and inventive horror film that played with your anxiety through sound. It was a surprisingly fleshed-out small-scale horror film with skillful direction, genuine scares, great ASL representation, and a fittingly poignant narrative about parenthood. It was horror with a heart. Because the movie didn’t cost much to make and it made a huge profit for Paramount, a sequel was commissioned. Then, that sequel got hella delayed for obvious reasons (it got canceled literally a day before I was supposed to attend the press screening in 2020 and everything became a mess). We couldn’t see this post-apocalyptic movie without having to go through an apocalypse ourselves. How poetic.
Set literally one minute after the events of the predecessor, the Abbotts venture out of the house and into the unknown as quietly as they can. Eventually, and under unlikely circumstances, they meet up with Lee’s brother Emmett (Cillian Murphy), who has secluded himself in an abandoned warehouse. With the death of her father still fresh on her mind, Regan feels it’s her responsibility to take action and continue her father’s legacy by using her badass abilities to save the world.
Because it’s a sequel, A Quiet Place Part II goes bigger, louder, and more chaotic than before. From the tense opening prologue sequence that depicts the day of the alien invasion, you just know Paramount gave John Krasinski all the money to make this larger-scale follow-up. The death count via these alien creatures is four times higher than it was in the first film. After that prologue, you still have an essentially small-scale follow-up that is more character-driven than your typical studio sequel.
Krasinski’s A Quiet Place Part II mostly retains the identity of its predecessor in style and tone. Given that the characters are now venturing beyond their small borders and into other locations, you get to see more of this apocalyptic wasteland on a larger scale. Also, the film keeps the excellent sound mixing that puts you in the perspective of the deaf Regan Abbott. There are enough close-ups of dirty, musky feet to make Tarantino blush while maintaining the continuity that this family did not take a bath or clean their feet for WEEKS! All the recognizable elements of the predecessor return and the film (more or less) maintains continuity.
The horror elements are still present and continue to play upon your anxiety with shots of minuscule objects that make the most noise like a leaf crinkling, a metal fence rattling, or a door creaking, which could all lead to your death. The action set pieces now vary in terms of location and are more outdoor-centric. However, the film never becomes bloated or over-the-top, for it mostly remains very grounded in its own world. Much like the predecessor, its vulnerable emotions are in the forefront ever so often and it’s effective, albeit much bleaker. It’s still poignant in a human manner, much like that video game franchise that I swear to god this series was influenced by… but I digress.
The returning cast is really good, but this sequel gives actress Millicent Simmonds time to shine, and boy does she glow. A Quiet Place Part II solidifies that this is Simmonds’ franchise and she is the action hero in her own right. All the best genuine emotional heft of the film stems from her. There are moments where the audio is completely silent to put you in her shoes and she is acting her ass off. She is the star of the franchise with the most badass moments and the best-developed character, for she has you gripped the entire time. She holds her own alongside Cillian Murphy, for the narrative sets Regan and her estranged uncle Emmett, who doesn’t speak ASL and is going through his own emotional turmoil, to embark on a quest together. They have great onscreen chemistry as they try their best to survive and understand each other. Since we’re introduced to a new character with Emmett, Krasinski (who also wrote the screenplay) provides a strong arc with a theme of grief that hovers around him and Regan. Unfortunately, Evelyn and Marcus are hardly given much to do in this story, but Emily Blunt and Noah Jupe are still as good as ever.
Father Time put in the work to mess with the continuity. Don’t rewatch A Quiet Place before diving into this sequel. You’re going to disassociate heavily since the leads straight up hit a growth spurt following the end of the last movie. In the predecessor’s prologue, actor Noah Jupe was so young that he was being carried by Krasinski. By the time this movie starts, the continuity is all messed up. During the prologue that depicts DAY ONE of the invasion, you see Marcus, who has clearly gotten taller since the last film, playing baseball as his family watches from the stands. Though it’s a captivating opening sequence, it’s truly distracting for obvious reasons. It’s not like I’m suggesting the Captain America route with CGI on his face/body, but come on. Jupe and Simmonds got taller and Jupe’s voice got deeper. I don’t want to use puberty as a means to criticize the film, but at the same time, it’s very distracting to a point that I suggest NOT rewatching the first movie beforehand. Believe me, you’ll remember what happened once this gets the ball rolling.
I know it’s a horror trope for characters to make bad decisions. A Quiet Place opened on the youngest Abbott dying because he made the stupid decision to turn the sound of his rocketship on. That being said, there are ample moments in this film where characters make the absolute dumbest decisions that put them in peril, specifically Marcus, who (after 474 days of living in this apocalyptic world) should know better. It doesn’t matter that he’s a child, but the fact that he had to see his own dad get killed should have given him some common sense. Needless to say, he does something that’s so stupid, it felt like they had to reverse his character progression in order to give him and Evelyn something to do. Marcus and Evelyn aren’t the most proactive characters in this entry and because of the minimal action they get, this sequel as a whole feels like a DLC continuation of an already short game rather than a valiant sequel.
Not to say that this isn’t a good movie or a worthy sequel. Though it’s not as fresh and inventive as the first film, A Quiet Place Part II is still a damn fine sequel that continues the predecessor’s strongest aspects while going bigger and emotionally bolder than your typical studio horror. The sequences of horror are well choreographed, intense, and as anxiety-inducing as ever while providing strong performances from Millicent Simmonds and series newcomer Cillian Murphy. It’s short, sweet, and, while really flawed, still puts you at the edge of your seat.
