A Quiet Place Part II - Movie Review

Hype is one of the biggest things that social media and companies on social media use to control and excited people to purchase their products. It's a powerful tool get people to spend money. I've made some bad purchases in the past due to hype (I'm looking at you Borderlands 3 and OVERKILL's The Walking Dead). This week's film is definitely one that I've seen a lot of posts about, with people saying it's incredibly good, like the best thing since sliced bread. I was very suspicious of this because it's a sequel to a film that I thought was very overhyped, with its flaws ignored because of its unique concept. This week I went to see A Quiet Place Part II.

A Quiet Place Part II starts right after the first film with Evelyn Abbott killing the aliens after discovering that her daughter's earpiece/ ear implant releases a sound that distress and make the creatures vulnerable. But sadly they cannot stay in their home as a fire has broken out in it. So Evelyn, her daughter Regan, her son Marcus, and their newly born baby must travel out into the world to find a new home for themselves. During their travels they meet somebody from their past who might have knowledge on a way to survive the monsters. But there are more dangers out there than just these monsters and a lot more ways to make noise...

To be honest with you guys I did not like A Quiet Place. While the concept is great, the casting was great, and the cinematography was great, I found the script to be poor, the scares and attempts at tension a bunch of lies, and the family dynamic to be awful. I knew this all as soon as the film ended and not after hearing feedback from others like many films I've liked turning to disliked. Once the credits started I thought to myself, "Okay that was... Fine? Why though? Why do I have a feeling that this definitely wasn't as good as what people say it was." And then I saw four dreaded words that are instant panic starters in terms of movies: "Produced by Michael Bay." When I saw those words I almost recreated the death scream from the film because I was so horrified that Michael Bay was a part the production of that film. I mean beyond Transformers this is the guy who made the first Annabelle film, which is an utterly terrible horror movie! Additionally, as I walked out of the theater, I saw news that a sequel was already green-lit, which made me go, "OH COME ON! It just came out! Do we really need a sequel to this film?"

However, after watching A Quiet Place Part II, I am very happy to say that this sequel is definitely better than the first film. It still has some problems, but it seems John Krasinski has learned a lot since the first film and has greatly improved his horror craft! The script is a lot better, much better scares with really damn good uses of tension, and with a lot less stupid plot elements from the first film. Even with Michael Bay still producing the film I walked out of the theater with a big grin because this was a lot better than I expected. I do worry that this film is going to start a "Quiet Place Cinematic Universe," but if they can keep improving their craft this could be an interesting horror series. Also please, expand beyond just North America if this does happen.

Let's begin with the intro of the movie, which shows day 1 of the end times. It starts off like any normal day, with Lee Abbott picking up fruit to share at a local baseball game. As the game progresses though a meteor is seen in the sky and everyone stops and stares at it. Soon the game is abandoned and everyone is heading to their homes. The audience knows that these mysterious monsters are going to pop up at this point and we're just tense of when it happens. When they appear though that's when havoc takes place and my bitterness was surprisingly fading away with how tense things were getting. It also introduced a character of later importance in the story, along with teaching our main family a bit about how to survive the upcoming apocalypse. Now that opening scene of the past wasn't really required for this film since our father character is dead and most likely everybody else in the town is as well. I think it was done though because it shows what life was like before and the type of world that Evelyn Abbott wants for her kids.

Now after this introduction the story properly begins. That intro though did hint that the film would lose a lot of the story elements that were very bothersome in the first film. Things like all that sand needed to travel about the town, using a gas lamp when electricity is totally available, using a generator that probably makes a lot of noise, how inconsistent the aliens were when it came to hear things/ how much noise could be made before there was danger, and stupid fucking nail pointing upwards with nothing else to nail to, and more. But see so much of those problems removed from this sequel was almost... therapeutic. I'm not kidding, those plot holes really lower the quality of the first film.

Now the main issue I had with this film is also the main issue I didn't like the first film: The script, specifically that characters did certain things not because it was a part of their character, but just to move the story along. Like in the first film where Evelyn is walking up the stairs, her dress catches on a nail, and she almost falls over. Instead of checking what did that to her like anybody would do she ignores the nail sticking straight up in the air and later steps on it like a dumbass, alerting the aliens to come after her. By the way, spoiler alert, that nail is still there and still pointing straight up! I was silently laughing out loud when I saw that nail because that nail is one of the dumbest things I've ever seen in a horror movie.

This problem with the script also relates to my other problem with this film that was passed on by the first film: The family dynamic is still bad. Remember at the start of the first movie when their youngest son wants that spaceship toy and almost knocks it over, getting them all killed? He should have been supervised and they don't even though for them it's been 90 days since the end of the world. And then he dies because he got the toy back and put the batteries back in. Also the way that Lee keeps avoiding his daughter when just a small conversation of that event and the guilt she feels about it could fix everything up. That's fucking terribly parenting!

We get more of that in Part II because Evelyn is... she's not a good mommy. Early after they leave the farm they accidentally make some noise and are running through a field when Marcus gets his foot caught in a trap. When that happen I gasped and winced at how painful that was and then I saw Evelyn just put her hand over her son's mouth in a half-hearted way and not try to remove the trap like any reasonable parent would. She just keeps shushing him when he's realistic screaming in pain about something that even tough, grown men would be crying about. I seriously wanted to punch Evelyn in the face for being such a bad mother. And because of her delay a monster is given enough time to catch up to them. It's just so stupid.

But it's not just her that's the problem, the kids also don't try to talk with each other and explain their motivations. Regan even ditches her family soon after Marcus's injury for a "greater purpose," which is just... Ughhhhhhh! Like I was expecting her to come back after she learned more about what she's questing for, but she doesn't and I was just rather shocked. Also Marcus, after Evelyn leaves to find supplies, leaves the new baby behind to go searching for... something. Literally, just something, we don't know what. Then he makes a noise and then we get into trouble. In the end though all the Abbott family don't listen or understand each other, which is awful. I still cared for them, but there were often times in this film (like the previous one) in which I questioned if they should be alive.

But back to positives, the aliens are a lot more scary in this film. With the ending of the first movie being the Abbott family discovering the alien's main weakness you'd think these creatures wouldn't be very scary or dangerous. But in this sequel they're more consistent in terms of what they can hear, they're more dangerous in how fast they can move and kill people, and the way they appear and move about filled me with a lot more tension than in the last film. In the previous film I thought they all had ADHD because sometimes their claws were literally a foot away from tearing somebody apart, but then they'd hear a bird chirp once from a mile away and just go after that bird. But now it seems their "character traits" have been solidified and doesn't jump over the place. We aren't guessing anymore how much of a danger these monsters are, they're not a concrete danger in this post apocalyptic world.

Unlike the first A Quiet Place, where the characters had a ton of plot armor that ruined a lot of great scares, I felt a lot more worried for the characters in this film because the tension building in Part II is a lot better! One of the biggest reasons for this is the "Silent Reveal," which is basically the opposite of a "Jump Scare." Instead of a loud noise and suddenly the monster/ threat appears on the screen the silent reveal keeps the camera totally skill and in the background (possibly a little out of focus) you see something slide in the frame and the audience notices this change first. We begin to get scared before the character(s) learn of this imminent danger, but when they find out the tension rapidly goes up. There is one particular scene on a train that made me gripping my chair in fear and it felt like only a true expert in horror could pull that scene off. I'm hoping horror directors will use this film to start integrating proper scares these like silent reveals into their films and remove a lot of the jump scares that have infested the horror genre for a long while.

Another positive of the film is the story. Yes, I found the script to have problems, but I overall liked the story for Part II more than Part I because this felt more like a survival story and not series of accidents that bring the danger. I would have liked a little more survival and world building in the film, but the way this movie's story went reminded me of other films like The Road. It was characters grasping for hope in a hopeless world and some going out of their ways to maybe find a way out of it. There is a moment on a dock that definitely hinted at some interesting ideas and concepts for the world. Plus being out beyond a farm and exploring more of destroyed America.

I also got to give props to Cillian Murphy (the Scarecrow from Batman Begins) for the new character of Emmett. He felt like a proper apocalyptic survivor, somebody who's experienced in survival, plans ahead, has personally lost a lot, and has little hope in the world returning to "normal". He is unreasonably bullied by the Abbott family after he reveals his wife and son have died a few months ago, but he puts on a really strong performance! Often, with how clunky the Abbott family was, I was rooting for him more than anybody else because I quickly learned to care for this guy. Plus he was the main character who went through the most change and growth in the movie.

Even with some of its problems the are some great moments of writing. For example, there is moment in the introduction of the film where a younger Emmett is trying to talk with Regan and she shows him a certain word of sign language. Emmett in the present day gives her that sign in a dangerous situation, which is a great callback. Another example of this is how Evelyn goes back to the to her town's pharmacy since it wasn't fully pillaged of medication. It was similar to the first movie when the whole Abbott family went to that pharmacy for Marcus's medicine.

Lastly, I got to talk about the cinematography. It's really good in this film. Using a lot of wide shots and still shots, along with those silent reveals, it's a beautiful looking film that can amp up the scares with how much is captured on the screen. There also plenty of moments where the camera would linger a bit longer on a certain item or place to indicate it could be of importance later on. While that can be viewed as pointing out the obvious (and it is) I think it's totally okay because of what some of these items do later on in very tense scenes. The head of cinematography, Polly Morgan, did a really good job with the camera!

A Quiet Place Part II was much better than I expected. While problems from the previous film like messy character dynamics and plot pushing actions were still in this sequel the writing was improved, the scares were greatly improved, some of the newer additions to the story were really good, and the camera work was excellent! If they're going to make more films for this series they'll have to improve the writing more and explore the survival of other people other than the Abbotts. Other than that they got to keep it scary with great cinematography and this could end up much bigger than we all expected it would be.

Tentative Score: 7.75/10

Definitive Score: 7.75/10

Now if I had to give the first A Quiet Place a score it would be a six out of ten, so this is definitely an improvement over the first film. I honestly need a good surprise like this because I've been needing to get out of the house more. Now that theaters are beginning to open up more maybe I'll be in the theaters even more. Fingers crossed.