"...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...
