Review- A Quiet Place: Part 2

Continuing right after the events of the first movie, the Abbott family (lead by Emily Blunt) must venture out into the world in search of other survivors, all while trying to avoid the monsters that have wiped out most of the population.

Up until yesterday afternoon, it'd been about 6 months since I'd gone to the movies. Since the last movie I saw there was Wonder Woman 1984, it had been even longer since I'd seen a good movie in theaters. So when I saw that A Quiet Place: Part II had finally been released after more than a year of sitting on the shelf, I made an excuse to go back. Luckily, Part II was worth the wait.

First off, the movie carries on the tradition set by Part I of giving you scene after scene of unending anxiety. Not going to lie, I had an interview yesterday where 3 different guys were asking questions about how qualified I was for the job, and this movie was still the most stressful part of my day. It barely lets you settle in before it shows Day 1 of the monsters showing up and all hell breaking loose. This sequence does a great job of giving a little more background to the characters and what their lives looked like before everything went wrong. But when things go wrong, it's so chaotic that it gives you an even better idea of how fast the monsters in this movie can destroy everything. From there the movie returns to present day, and all the fun surprises awaiting the Abbott family.

What I really enjoyed about the first Quiet Place were all the memorable set pieces it had. Whether it was the kids being stuck in a corn silo with one of the monsters, or Emily Blunt stuck in a flooded basement with a monster nearby or having to give birth in a tub with (you guessed it) a monster nearby! All of these scenes worked well on their own, but the way they built on one another as the movie went on, never releasing the tension, was really impressive. The same thing can be said for Part II. Every time the characters barely make it out of one nightmarish situation, there's always something worse around the corner. It's as fun to watch as it is emotionally draining. 

All the incredible stress inducing scenes are brought to us once again, by John Krasinski, who not only wrote but directed this as well. Part II proves that the success of the first wasn't a fluke and that Krasinski is real talent behind the camera. Both of these movies could easily be run of the mill monster movies with a few good scares, but Krasinski smartly focuses on the core characters, making us care about them before shoving them into horrible situations. He's able to get great performances from his cast, making them seem genuinely desperate to make it to safety.

Speaking of the acting, the cast is incredible. It's easy for an actor to look good on screen when they're given amazing dialogue and get their Oscar moment with a great speech, but much harder when they have to cover 80% of the movie based on expression alone. Emily Blunt, once again, kills it as a mother protecting her children from harm. She has to convey a lot of emotion through whispers, quiet pleas, and many, many tears to get her point across. The child actors are great as well, especially Millicent Simmonds in a much larger role this time around. Rounding out the cast is Cillian Murphy, who puts those gigantic eyes to great use portraying a grieving father who is reluctantly pulled into the family's struggles. And while some characters may be apart for large portions of the movie, each actor has great chemistry with the others, making them play very well off each other. The action sequences are great, but the well rounded cast is what really elevates this material above other movies in its genre.

As far as negatives go, there isn't much that I could find wrong here. Some scenes may go on a bit long and like other horror movies, characters make some dumb decisions in order to set the stage for more scares...but that's about it. Personally, the only gripe I had was how abrupt the ending was, it just seemed to rush to credits after a really strong climax. But like George Costanza on Seinfeld taught us, it's usually best to go out on a high note.

A Quiet Place: Part II, like its successor, may not break any new ground, but there's something to be said for a movie like this to be done extremely well. You always root for the characters no matter how bleak the situation is, the scares are earned and effective, and the tension fills up the screen in every scene. This was a great movie to break my 6 month streak of not going to the theater, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for an excuse to go as well.

Rating: 4.5/5

Sources: IMdB