With hands still shaking from my shot-to-hell nerves, here’s my thoughts on the soon to be released A Quiet Place – Part II.
For a movie lover, I have a really bad habit. I’m a shocker for putting a film on, and then finding myself something to do while it plays and only half paying attention. Whether I’m writing, editing, designing, sewing, planning renos or just plane scrollin’ the ’interwebs, I very rarely just sit and watch the screen. I mean, you can hear what’s going on and it still counts as ‘watching’ a movie if you’re looking up from your screen every few seconds right? Well, now I’m not so sure.
One of the first things I noticed upon watching the first film, and again at the premiere of A Quiet Place II, was how impossible it is to tear your eyes away from the screen. Set in a post-apocalyptic world that has been torn apart by sightless extra-terrestrial creatures who have annihilated the human species, the survivors must live their lives in total silence to avoid triggering the alien’s super hearing and attracting them to their location. Being quiet is their key to survival.
We were pretty big fans of the first Movie, which was written and directed by John Krasinski who also stars in the first film alongside wife Emily Blunt.
A Quiet Place II continues what it achieved brilliantly in the first film, which is to draw the audience in so much that we become completely invested in every single move each character makes. Every, single, step. The small cast, joined this time by Cillian Murphy, carry the weight of this message ridden story on their shoulders, and do so wonderfully.
For a screenplay with so little dialogue, A Quiet Place II speaks volumes. There has been much speculation as to what Krasinski’s driving message for the films is. But I think the whole point is that it’s supposed to be different for each person watching. In a story that at first glance seems to have had all hope ripped away, to have communication – the very essence of what it is to be human so very limited, after two movies, I saw something else.
More than 90 minutes of cheap thrills ‘made-you-jump’ sequences, the story of A Quiet Place proves to me that when there is something to live for, something to fight for, the human species will always fight the odds – even when they are stacked high against them.
A Quiet Place II is a must-see movie. Take a deep breath before you go in – you’ll be holding it for 90 minutes.
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A Quiet Place Part II will be exclusively in cinemas from May 27.
Feature Image: Paramount Pictures