ALIEN HORROR SUMMER - NO. 11: A QUIET PLACE PART II (2021) MOVIE REVIEW
John Krasinski’s follow-up to his sleeper hit, director break-through got buried in the COVID years but is just as powerful, if not more technically impressive than the original.
by Nate Lemann
John Krasinski, the actor, is a much beloved celebrity who has turned his nice guy charm into a very successful television career and respectable, lesser film career. Karsinski, the director, is a different animal entirely to evaluate. His earlier films have a low-budget, Sundance indie vibe that was not bad but didn’t really flex his creative muscles as a director. His most recent outing, “IF”, has been much maligned but was never intended to be a showstopper, instead a movie he could show his kids.
In between those two phases of Karsinski’s directing career are maybe two of the most well directed and structured horror films of the past decade: the “A Quiet Place” franchise took audiences by surprise in 2018. Aside from a killer concept from writers Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, Krasinski showed a masterful control and restraint in moving to the horror genre. The first film is basically a parent’s worst nightmare, grappling with the death of a child and how to move forward from that. It helped having the meta casting of Krasinski and real-life spouse Emily Blunt as the leads, with two of the best child actor performances in quite some time: Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe knocked down the house in the first film and are given more of the spotlight in this sequel.
The opening of this film allows Karsinski’s departed Lee character to return as we get a glimpse of the first day the Abbott family encountered the Death Angels. We follow Lee around the sleepy town as word starts to come about explosions and attacks all over the world. Most pay it no mind as the families enjoy a fun little league game. Jupe’s Marcus presents as a nervous and nervy kid, too meek to swing at a fastball. We also meet Cillian Murphy’s rugged Emmett, a friend of the Abbotts watching the game with his young boy. When a giant looking meteor appears overhead, the game is called as the townsfolk look for shelter.
This kicks off some of the most breathless action you will see in a horror film, as the Death Angels descend on the town and the townsfolk still don’t know the number rule to survive these creatures is to stay quiet. Lee quickly picks up on it as he whisks his family to safety. Krasinski shows off in this 12-minute masterpiece of an opener. With expert staging, tracking shots, and some of the best horror oners this side of Steven Spielberg in “War of the Worlds”. You would maybe get worried that the only way to go is down after this jaw-dropper of a first act but Krasinski only escalates from there.
The film then picks up moments after the harrowing ending of the last film, as mother Blunt and the kids need to get ready to move, with their farm no longer habitable after the Death Angel attack that closed the last film. They do now have a defense mechanism against these horrific creatures: Simmonds' character’s cochlear implant gives off this static charge that renders the creatures writhing in immense pain. With this new weapon in tow (along with the newborn Blunt silently gave birth to in the last film), the Abbotts venture out of their mapped out area.
When they stumble upon a seemingly abandoned factory, the family decides to camp out there but soon learn that it isn’t as abandoned as it appeared to be. After a very harrowing encounter with a Death Angel, they are saved by a masked man, but not before demonstrating their new weapon. It turns out the man is Emmett from the opener, but now bearded and very scarred by severe loss (let’s just say the child he was with before is no longer with him). He is colder than he was before, demanding the Abbotts leave when it's clear, with not enough resources to support all of them. Blunt pleads with Murphy to have mercy, with one of the kids getting injured in the attack and the baby not safe until it can learn to quiet its screams. While they take the night to rest, the non-injured child ventures out on their own, searching for an island with a radio station still working so that they can use the broadcast to share the alien-crippling static more broadly. The narrative then splits, with Murphy convinced to chase after the child and help them, while Blunt stays behind with the baby and the injured one, doing what she can to get them to hold on while dealing with stalking Death Angels.
It must be said that the chemistry between Blunt and Murphy is undeniable. A year after watching them play a married couple in mega-hit “Oppenheimer”, they have a very real way of reacting to each other, doing fabulous job to convey harsh, thorny, and complex relationships. Both actors are able to convey so much with just physical emoting, keeping their dialogue to minimum. Blunt is especially moving in two very harrowing sequences: the first when she pleads with her injured child to try not to scream in pain, begging with her whispers and tears to not have them kill themselves by making a sound; she has lost so much and can’t bear to lose any more. The second is in the show-stopping finale, where she has a look of awe that will live rent free in your mind. Murphy never overdoes the trauma he’s been through but so clearly is raked with guilt and reluctance to care again. His arc that helps hims find his compassion again is very earned and handled with great care by a truly great talent.
The children are just transcendent: the casting here was so perfect, building a family out of actors that sell very believed and complex dynamics. Simmonds is an amazing performer: she is so rootable and headstrong. Her innate kindness never undermines her strong mental fortitude. Jupe is so nervy and a good comparison to his stronger sister. His journey from being a scared kid who was too meek for baseball to staring down a Death Angel is a very well earned arc for the kid. While the first film was about coping with loss, this film is more focused on the kids growing into their own. It wants to ask how as parent can you let your kids go out and fend for themselves in a cruel world on their own. The journeys these two young actors go on answer that question in stunning fashion.
The films is filled with great set pieces, from the aforementioned opener to cross-cutting sequences to demonstrate the peril both split narratives are going through. We get glimpses of other humans in this, from the friendly to the downright terrifying. Krasinski has a strong grasp how to tell this story visually, with remarkable staging and blocking. His shot composition is as strong as any director I’ve seen so far on this list. There are also very believed actions and stakes that develop very naturally and don’t feel shoehorned in. Chief among them is the the soundproof baby box, with a small oxygen tank so the child doesn’t suffocate. I will tell you my heart skipped many beats anytime that child’s safety was called into question.
While not packing as much emotional bite as the first film, Krasinski evolves as a director here and shows glimpses of a transcendent talent as a visual storyteller.
FINAL RATING: 4.5/5 Stars (Amazing follow-up that lives up to the first film's high standard of excellence)
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