A Quiet Place Part II Was Worth the Wait, Delivering Big on Heart and Scares

A Quiet Place Part II

Studio: Paramount Pictures

Director: John Krasinski

Starring: Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmons, Noah Jupe, and Cillian Murphy. 

Run Time: 97 min.

Ratings: 5 stars

John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place Part II, the long awaited sequel to its wildly successful predecessor, finally arrived in theaters after more than a years delay due to a world upended by the Coronavirus. It is one of the first major studio movies to have a theater-only release in the waning of the pandemic. Krasinski wanted people to be able to experience his movie together in theaters and his choice to hold out until it could be seen the way he intended was the right move. It’s a movie made for the big screen and the even bigger sound system and delivers up a thriller of a ride that grips you from the very beginning and doesn’t let you go until the very end.

The opening scene takes us back to the day when aliens arrived, dropping into the charm and familiarity of a small town USA, moments before their world is changed forever. We feel the luxury of the ordinariness of the scene— a little league game with families gathered in the stands, neighbors talking to neighbor— and we brace ourselves for what we know is to come. There is no background music in the opening sequence, forcing us to tune into every sound and every moment of silence, priming our nerves for the beating they are about to experience.  A ball of fire streaks across the sky, scattering the confused onlookers, who, though alarmed, are still oblivious to the devastation that is about to hit them. What happens next is masterful, Spielberg-inspired film work, with long shots that put us right beside the characters as the aliens arrive and chaos ensues, allowing us to feel their confusion, their panic, and their terror. 

From there, we are thrown right into the action of where the first film left off, with a quick visual recap of all the terrors the family has endured and a reminder to the audience of what there is to fear. With their homestead in ruins, Evelyn (Emily Blunt) and her three children must leave behind their former safety net, the place where they had survived by depending only upon each other, and strike out into the world to find help from others. With a newborn baby in tow, the family finds themselves more vulnerable than ever, and seeks shelter from a former friend, Emmett (Cillian Murphy), who, having suffered devastating losses of his own, is less than eager to help. But when Evelyn’s daughter, Reagan (Millicent Simmons), decides to set off on her own in a plan to find a radio signal that can broadcast her alien-busting discovery, Emmitt agrees to follow after her and bring her safely back. This splits the storyline down two simultaneous paths, as Reagan and Emmitt encounter a world of new horrors on their journey, and Evelyn and Marcus (Noah Jupe) battle the familiar, yet terrifying, obstacles of trying to keep safe (and quiet) with a new born baby. What becomes clear is that this story is driven from the point of view of the two kids, as they are forced to grow up quickly in an unforgiving environment. 

            We lose the intimacy of the first film, that was built completely around one family and their sacrifices made for each other’s survival, as the family moves into an expanded world, bringing more characters, bigger sets, bigger action sequences, and more dialogue into Part II. Often, when sequels feel like they must go bigger and bolder than the first, we lose the magic of what worked in the original. Krasinski, however, wisely brings back all the fundamental ingredients from the first, by creating characters that feel so real that we become invested in their survival. This is aided by a heavy-lifting cast, lead by Blunt’s flawless and heartbreaking performance as a mother desperate to protect her family while fiercely battling the unimaginable. The two teenage leads, Simmons and Jupe, both deliver stunning performances that drives the heart of the show, as they push themselves bravely forward, with hope, into a scary future.  

            Then, of course, there are the horror elements. Krasinski sticks with his formula of masterfully  weaponizing the use of sound and silence to its most terrifying potential.  This is never more apparent than when he has us gripped in fear over the most mundane of things, such as a squeaky door or a crunching leaf. From the moment we see the fireball in the sky announcing the arrival of the aliens, to the moment the screen fades black into credits, we are caught in the unrelenting clutch of tension that slowly and  agonizingly draws out our nerves in the silence and then breaks us with its jolting sounds and frenetic action. When the movie comes to an end, we are left clutching our mouths, shocked that 97 minutes have gone by, and desperate for more. Which probably means a sequel and if it can deliver as much heart and as much suspense as this installment, I think it will be well worth the wait.