A Quiet Place: Part II (review thread)

A Quiet Place Part II(5/30/2021)

A Quiet Place Part II was originally supposed to come out on March 20th 2020… probably not the best choice of release date in retrospect. It wasn’t the first movie to be postponed because of COVID but of all the major releases delayed by the pandemic it was probably the closest to having gotten release before finally blinking and postponing just eight days before it was set to open. It had already had its red carpet premiere, certain critics had already taken in screenings (and remained shockingly tight lipped with their opinions), and I even had a ticket reserved for that original release before it became clear everything was falling apart. Now, over a year later, this film’s release is still tied to the pandemic, but hopefully for better reasons as its looking like it’s the first of a string of major releases that will hopefully bring the theatrical exhibition business back to life. Of course depending on your perspective this could either be the best or the worst movie for people to be watching as they come out of a pandemic given that it’s about people who have had their lives turned upside down by a worldwide phenomenon that has killed tons of people while forcing those who remain behind to keep to themselves while giving up many of the day to day activities they’ve become accustomed to… as with many post-apocalyptic movies there are some notable parallels.

This sequel opens with a scene that flashes back to the first day of the alien invasion that would eventually bring down much of society and lead to the events of the first film. After that prologue the film picks up right were the previous entry left off; the family has found a way to stun the blind alien monsters using feedback from an altered hearing aid, but the family patriarch Lee Abbott (John Krasinski) has been killed and their home base has been wrecked and they’re stuck with a damn infant that is likely to cry at any moment and draw the attention of the planet’s new apex predators. Evelyn Abbott (Emily Blunt) opts to move the family out of the valley they’d been living in and head toward an abandoned factory, where they meet an old friend from the “before times” named Emmett (Cillian Murphy), who has been using that factory as a bunker. But before they enter the family’s younger child Marcus (Noah Jupe) steps in a bear trap leaving him injured and unable to move, so the plan is to lay low, but the strong willed older child of the family Regan (Millicent Simmonds) wants to bring their new discovery of an anti-alien frequency to the masses by bringing it to a nearby radio station which seems to still be broadcasting.

My eagerness to go out and see this movie, both before and after the pandemic, is perhaps a bit odd given that I actually didn’t see the first movie until a couple weeks after it released (in part because I was on vacation the week it came out and there were other movies that week I was more interested in) and also because I don’t really like that movie as much as a lot of other people seem to. I certainly didn’t dislike it, and there were elements of it like the sound design and the set decoration and the general world building that I enjoyed quite a bit and I also liked the general ballsyness of making a mainstream horror movie that goes for long stretches without spoken dialogue. However, I thought the movie lost its way once the CGI monsters actually showed up and in general I just didn’t find it all that scary. Frankly it just felt like a watered down version of It Comes at Night for the masses. But clearly I was outvoted because that movie made hundreds of millions of dollars and was generally loved by critics, and I did like it enough that I was curious to see where they’d go with it and give them a chance.

In many ways A Quiet Place Part II is a lot different from the original film; Krasinski and his co-writers seem to know that they won’t be able to replicate the first movie’s slow burn structure and that most of the world building has already been done. So instead the film uses its higher budget and makes a bit more of a full-on monster movie, which would seem to be the opposite of what I’d want given that I thought the monsters actually showing up was what hurt the first film but they make a little more sense here. That opening prologue is a good example; while the first movie almost treated these creatures like off-screen ghosts who would only be seen in brief glimpses up until the film’s finale, here we get to see them wrecking large portions of a city in what feels more like War of the Worlds than Night of the Living Dead. I wouldn’t go so far as to call this the Aliens to the original film’s Alien, because it does calm down some after that and it never really becomes an action movie, but there is a noticeable shift.

For the most part this works, but it doesn’t necessarily stand out a whole lot. It was interesting to see the various ways the family in the first film tried to soundproof their lives but there’s less of an emphasis on that here and most of the world building we do get is closer to rather typical post-apocalypse stuff. It also has this structural issue in its second half where it splits its story into two or three different locations in its second half as characters go off in different directions which forces the film to cut between certain suspense sequences which sort of hurts the momentum of both scenes. Those complaints aside, I do ultimately find myself with the same basic level of enthusiasm for this that I had for the first film. There’s clearly some talent behind it, the cast is decent, there are some strong scenes… it’s a generally decent time at the movies. But let’s not make this into something more than it is. This to me is a slightly above average horror movie coming out in a cinematic landscape where there should be better options for the discerning horror fan. Here’s hoping that if and when they make a third part (which I’d say is a near certainty) they finally find a way to kick this series up to the next level.

*** out of Five

His character acts like a complete idiot at the drop of a hat.

For now. It'll be on Paramount+ after a 45 day theatrical window.

I liked it. Some convenient story mechanics (3 feet of concrete, gentle alien in the final scenes, sea star) but I thought it was quite well done, and a worthy sequel to the first one.

The beginning few minutes were obviously the highlight though and I would love a world war z found footage type tale of multiple perspectives of phone footage or whatever for the first few weeks while the aliens raged across the states.

7/10 - solid dug it territory.

My main takeaway as well. 

In some ways I like this a little more than the first. The opening is great, and there are some fantastic shots throughout. At times the movie looks beautiful. There's a real sense of dread, and the monsters feel relentless this time around. However, while I liked some of the world building, it just wasn't enough. I get what Kransinski wants here, a lean story where it doesn't overstay it's welcome. A lot of times, I'm all for a shorter runtime, but I think in this case it's to it's detriment. 

Some of the themes do work though, mostly the children/adult conflict throughout. Both of the kids have their time to shine, and surprisingly, it didn't feel forced.