A Quiet Place 2

 

Year: 2021

Genre: Horror

For me, John Krasinski's 'A Quiet Place' was a genre defining horror film. Never before had I been in the cinema and witnessed a whole audience go completely silent within ten minutes of a film starting. It was a film that simply HAD to be seen as a cinematic experience. The dramatic effect of the films core theme of silence would have been completely lost in a viewing at home. Everything about the film was the completely opposite of the 'quiet quiet BANG' jump scare approach mainstream horror seems to have adopted nowadays and at the time, this was new territory. 

It would have been so easy for Paramount to jump on the bandwagon and release this film on streaming platforms, but I am so glad they didn't. Originally slated for a March 2020 release (I even remember buying tickets in advance) the film has been released over twelve months later, and it was the first film I've seen at the cinema post pandemic. I'll be honest, walking through those doors and up the stairs to my seat definitely felt nostalgic and almost felt surreal. 

'A Quiet Place Part 2' opens with a bit of back story explaining where and how the aliens from the original came to be. Although this satisfies the curiosity of the audience, it immediately takes away the 'where and how' element they had in the original. We now know where they came from, and as a result, they kind of loose the element of mystery associated with them that we felt watching the original. 

After a small amount of back story, the sequel then fast forwards back to where the original ended. With Krasinski's character dead, Emily Blunt is left to fend for her children on her own, and the film seems to borrow heavily from themes of AMC's 'The Walking Dead' with Blunt and her family hoping to track down remaining survivors and ultimately find a possible utopia where humans have settled and live in peace. 

So how does the sequel compare to the original?

Don't get me wrong, this is an excellently directed film and clearly shot on 35mm. The performances from all involved are nothing short of stellar (in particular Millicent Simmonds character of Regan Abbott.) I can't fault the CGI, I can't fault Marco Beltrami's soundtrack, I cannot fault any of the set pieces. 

The question I have to ask myself, is did I feel the same level of suspense I felt watching the original? 

Well, the short answer is no. The feeling of isolation the family unit felt is gone. The unknown origins of the aliens are gone. The sheer helplessness tone of the original, is gone. 

That's not to say this by any means a bad film, but in trying to move the plot forward, in my opinion Krasinski has forgotten about many of the themes that made his original so successful. The element of staying silent is still very much at the forefront, but there were other subtle facets of the original that made it work so well for me that are not present, sadly. 

This was good, but I won't remember it as fondly as I did the 2018 original. 

3.5 stars.