A Quiet Place Part II - A Review of the Sequel Film by Mark Barry...

"...Stay Calm..."

A Review of "A Quiet Place Part II"

You don't expect much from sequels, maybe do just as good a job as the first outing and not completely embarrass itself or you in the offering.

But "A Quiet Place Part II" is a properly great follow-up film that manages to combine scare-the-crap-out-of-you thrills and a real sense of humanity in the face of all the teeth-nibbling and slash-arm carnage (largely down to the power of the acting ensemble). The creatures are a stunning creation too and genuinely menacing every time they skit onto screen like gangly scissors men. Throw in the use of sound vs. silence to amp up the tension to 11 on a monitor of 10 and you have one skilfully managed night of tears and screeches.

I openly worship at the altar of all things Emily Blunt (I'd drink her bathwater, and in several British real ale minibars, probably have). She is never less that sensational as the beleaguered mother Evelyn Abbott trying to keep her siblings alive and safe in a landscape of terror at every turn. But even her and Krasinski's tight direction are outdone big time by the two kids - Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe playing Regan and Marcus Abbott. They are truly fabulous throughout, having to mine emotional depths in every single scene that few actors twice their age would be capable of.

But the master stroke is the introduction of the blue-eyed heavily bearded Cillian Murphy as the new man in their lives - a traumatized neighbour you see in flashback as the story returns to Day 1 in small-town USA when the monsters arrived without warning. Murphy is another top-quality presence in a story that needs heart as well as grab-my-hand darling jumps. As anyone who loves him in Peaky Blinders will know, Cillian can infuse a real person into every heart-breaking decision for survival. Gladiator-star Djimon Hounsu also has a small but effective part later on.

Some will say the original was better (and it probably was and had the shock factor too and big cinema prior to Covid-19) - but Writer and Director John Krasinski has nailed it big time for "A Quiet Place Part II". My missus actually clapped come the final credits and you don't say that of too many sequels...

It's SOUND! "A QUIET PLACE" the 2018 Movie - A Review by Mark Barry...

"It's SOUND!" 

"A Quiet Place" Is Good Old Fashioned 

By-The-Seat-Of-Your-Soiled-Pants Movie Entertainment

And Easily One of 2018's Best Films...

"A Quiet Place" is top-notch entertainment!

OK - for sure there are event holes in the plot galore (as some have gone to pains to point out) - but I say Blubber my Bum to that. Because I have not seen a movie deliver so much with so little in such a long time.

Real-life husband and wife team John Krasinski and Emily Blunt show once again they are both individual and collective class acts in "A Quiet Place" – Evelyn and Lee Abbott silently clutching their petrified family as they run from empty towns. Eventually after horrible losses – they end up as a small but still naked and vulnerable unit – surviving a year later on a wheat farm in a world invaded by ravenous beasties (Dad's long list of unanswered SOS signals show that few others seem to have been so resilient or creative in staying alive).

Newcomers Millicent Simmonds and Noah Lupe play the Abbott kids - Reagan a deaf girl watching over her younger more able-bodied brother Marcus (who is even more scared of the oversized gremlins than his older sister). Mum and Dad principal leads Krasinski and Blunt needed quality here and man did they luck out. Both young actors are revelations - each having to convincingly show amped up naked terror without the use of words or for that matter any kind of sound. To make matters worse - mummy's tummy is expanding and that innocent one's newborn noises will draw those pincer-like gnashers and blood frenzy if they're not minute-by-minute careful and uber prepared.

The slimy but fast-vicious creatures wow - cleverly introduced bit-by-bit to maximise their impact. They're similar in creepy slimeball horror to that other-worldly ugly bug in Netflix's fabulous TV Show "Stranger Things" – now a cult programme that has thrilled millions across two Seasons and made most of its young leads global stars.

For sure the arrival, wherefore and purpose of the aliens is perhaps left a little too sketchy – but this is a film that stands on the family's survival alone and I thought that was all "A Quiet Place" needed (keep to the point – pure and simple). Many also expressed disappointment in the ending, but I thought it was economical and shotgun brilliant. And kudos should also go to Marco Beltrami for his staggeringly effective score (jump baby jump) and to Scott Beck who co-wrote the script with Krasinski and Bryan Woods. 

After "A Quiet Place" and its expertly strangulating-your-jugular primal tension (delivered for a mere $18 million dollars when others costing ten times that don't deliver at all) - Hollywood will be sitting up and taking notice of John Krasinski, throwing scripts at the tall American by the post Brexit dozen (he also Directed the movie and IMO should be nominated for his work).

Fab and then some...and well done to all involved...