Hello summer break (for teachers like me) and summer blockbusters! We've been waiting over a year for part 2 of Joh Krasinski's A Quiet Place and it has finally arrived to kick off the summer!
Thank you John Krasinski. Thank you for brining theaters back this summer with an absolute bang. After over a year of delays, A Quiet Place Part II finally released in theaters. The people have been waiting for this one for a long time and we were not disappointed. I'm so glad to be in theaters and reviewing movies again. This is the first time I've been since September of 2020 for Tenet. If you have read any of my blog posts you know that I am not a horror movie guy. But A Quiet Place isn't a true horror movie. It's a thrilling family drama with monsters. And part II thrilled without a doubt. If you have seen the movie than feel free to read the whole post, if not skip the spoilery section!
Ok, this is all spoiler free for those of you that haven't made it to the theater yet. A Quiet Place Part II is phenomenal. For some behind the scenes - when I watch a movie that I know I'll write a review about, I typically turn my phone on night mode (to be polite in the theater of course) and take notes. But I completely forgot about taking notes within the first 10 minutes of this thing because the opening was that gripping. From jump street this movie grabs your attention. The sound and visual editing of the whole movie are Oscar worthy and that's what stood out the most to me. Second to that, and not by much, are the performances by Cillian Murphy, Noah Jupe, and Millicent Simmonds. We all know Emily Blunt is a rock star, but the performances by the rest of the cast were great. The way they are able to display emotions while acting with ASL is so so good. Sequels tend not to come through or be as good as the first, but I think this one is as good or even slightly better than A Quiet Place. The sequel stays true to the original while opening up this apocalyptic world and delivering a lot more action and character building. Despite Krasinski's absence in the film they found a great way to honor his character. My only complaint is that I thought the climax was a little clunky but overall A Quiet Place Part II is a compelling, edge-of-your-seat movie that was meant to be experienced in theaters. Now, if you haven't seen it yet stop reading here and skip to the last paragraph of the post, but if you have (or don't care about spoilers) keep reading below!
LAST WARNING FOR SPOILERS! SKIP TO THE BOTTOM!
Alright you've made it this far - let's get to the good stuff. That opening 10 minutes.. woo I was hooked. It was a great prequel for fans of the first and also gave good background on Lee (Krasinski) and the Abbott family along with their friend Emmett (Cillian Murphy). I guess the monsters are some type of alien and they crashed down to wreck havoc in the midst of a little league baseball game in small town America. The Abbott's are unusually well equipped to deal with this apocalypse. Lee slices up the postgame oranges with a giant hunting knife and they all know sign language. After the fantastic prequel the movie picks right up where Part I ended. The Abbott's are leaving their destroyed farmhouse with a newborn baby in tow. Where they are going I know not, but they now have the ability to kill the aliens and that comes in handy. The chase scene after they arrive at Emmett's hideout and Marcus (Jupe) steps on the bear trap is really well done. I almost had to laugh at Evelyn (Blunt) trying to muffle Marcus's screams after he stepped on the trap. She should have just knocked him out. Speaking of Marcus - he's an idiot who does idiotic things in this movie. He leaves the baby, brings all the monsters right to their doorstep, and nearly gets them all killed. But I suppose he redeemed himself by killing the monster. Regan (Simmonds) and Emmett's relationship was my favorite part of the movie. It gave me real Joel and Ellie vibes from The Last of Us. In their search for good people they first ran into some bad ones which always happens in the apocalypse. These bad guys were real creepy without uttering a single line. Emmett pulling out the ASL sign for dive was a great callback to Regan teaching him in the prequel scene. There were multiple times I thought Emmett was going to die like Lee did in the first but I'm glad he didn't because that would have felt cheap to see again. Speaking of deaths, Djimon Hounsou's death was so telegraphed. His whole character was kinda weird. He was very calm when monsters were attacking everyone he lived with and then the way he started backing towards the garage door... I literally said out loud "Oh he's dead" and what do you know - he was. I said earlier that the climax was a little clunky and I think that was because it was split between Emmett and Regan on the island and the others back at camp. Overall though I really loved it. It kept me engaged the whole time and I can't say enough good things about the way the movie was edited. Sound, or lack there of, is what makes this whole thing work. The smallest noise can provide a scare for the audience. The ending set up for more if Krasinski feels like making a part 3, but I also think this could work really well as a tv show if they ever decide to go that route.
That's it for A Quiet Place Part II. There's a few new things I have watched on streaming services that I want to mention here. Nobody (Amazon Prime) starring Bob Odenkirk is solid. The Mitchells vs. The Machines (Netflix) is a fun animated movie from Sony who is on a real roll with their animation and voice casts. Those Who Wish Me Dead (HBO Max) has its flaws but I'm always in for a Tyler Sheridan movie set in backwoods Montana starring Jon Bernthal and Angelina Jolie. All three are worth a watch. Up next for me is Cruella and I'm excited for Emma Stone in that one. My review for that will probably be up sometime next week but in the meantime enjoy A Quiet Place Part II in theaters if you can. John Krasinski, I know you're reading this. For the love of all things, can we PLEASE get this family some shoes?
- BH
Commentaires