A Quiet Place Part II is written and directed by John Krasinski and is the sequel to 2016’s A Quiet Place. The film follows the Abbott family as they try to create a new life following the horrific events of the previous film. With A Quiet Place: Day One set to release in theaters soon, let’s revisit the sequel to the film that started it all.
A NEW LIFE
A Quiet Place Part II starts right where the previous film left off. The Abbott family has discovered the weakness of the sound-sensitive creatures, which is that a certain frequency immobilizes the monster and exposes their skin. With Lee, played by John Krasinski, sacrificing his life to save his kids and their barn burning down, the family must leave their home and try to find a new place to settle down. They soon get in trouble and are saved by Emmett, played by Cillian Murphy. Emmett is an old family friend and lets the family stay in his bunker for the night. While they’re in the bunker, Regan hears a broadcast and assumes there are people out there sending a message. She sneaks out in the middle of the night, and when her mother, Evelyn, finds out, she begs Emmett to rescue her back. Emmett quickly finds Regan and decides to accompany her on her journey to find out who sent the radio message. Meanwhile, Evelyn stays in the bunker and heals her injured son Marcus and her newborn.
YOU SCREAM YOU LIVE?
The substantial difference between A Quiet Place Part II and its predecessor was the depiction of the creatures. In this film, the monsters were not as sound-sensitive and skilled when killing humans. In the first film, a whisper could get a person killed, but in this film, the characters have verbal conversations with no consequences. Millicent Simmonds’ character had more lines in this film than the total number of lines in the first film. This choice was particularly baffling since there were no scenes in the first movie that even acknowledged that Regan could talk due to her condition of not being able to hear herself. In a world where a creature can travel 300 mph to chase down a single sound, this gives her a disadvantage, which makes no sense for her to speak. On top of that, when there is a sound present that the creature can hear, it can’t even pinpoint where it’s coming from. In the first film, they can pinpoint a whisper and immediately kill from that location. This entire writing choice makes the monsters much weaker than they were portrayed in the previous film, and because of that, it takes away the suspense due to the characters not being in as much danger.
LEAVING THE FARM
One of the reasons why I admired the characters in the first film was that they made reasonable decisions. In most horror movies, characters often make mistakes that an ordinary person would not make. In this movie, that is exactly what happens. The entire plot line of this film is caused by foolish decisions. The big one was that Regan’s main reason for venturing out and trying to find other people was to protect her family, yet she took the one weapon that hurt the monsters with her, leaving the rest of her family with no protection. The second big mistake was when Evelyn had to leave her two sons to get more supplies. She tells Marcus to take care of the baby and not to leave the bunker. Soon after she leaves, he leaves the bunker to explore his surroundings and makes a loud noise that puts the whole family in danger. In the first film, the characters made intelligent decisions, especially since they have lived in this post-apocalyptic world for a year, but it felt like they forgot everything when it came to this film.
YOU ARE NOT THE FATHER
Although A Quiet Place Part II continues the Abbott family’s journey, the film pushes the family to the background, leaving them with no character development. For the main duration of the film, the family is split up, with Regan and Emmett going on their adventure to find the people who sent the mysterious signal, while Evelyn, Marcus, and the newborn are hiding out until the other two return. The only character that had actual growth in this film was Emmett. This would not have been a problem if the movie was supposed to be centered around him because his growth from being a person who lost his whole family to a person having a sense of hope, was executed well. The issue with this was it could have easily been applied to any of the other family members, especially with the death of John Krasinski’s character Lee in the previous film. Instead, it felt like they tried replacing Krasinski’s character with another father-like figure, which hindered any growth from the other family members. A simple fix for this would have been to have the film centered around Cillian Murphy or not have his character in the movie and prioritize the already established characters.
A GRATEFUL FAMILY
Although I talked about a lot of the problems this film had as a sequel, on its own, the film had some memorable moments. The best part of this film had to be the opening sequence. This series of scenes was a flashback to the first day the creatures landed on Earth, and it was the most intense and suspenseful part of the film. The one aspect that carried over from the first movie was the great acting performances. The whole cast gave stellar performances, especially Cillian Murphy and Emily Blunt. Millicent Simmonds in this film also had a fair share of her moments, with her being the driving force for this film. The scenes of her that were the most memorable were the ones that had absolutely no sound to mimic what it would be like if a person were deaf in this post-apocalyptic world. Adding on to Millicent, her and Cillian’s character combination was entertaining. The main plot revolved around Emmett and Regan venturing out to find other people, and with Regan being deaf and Emmett not knowing sign language, it made communicating in a world where they can’t talk even more difficult, and I thought it was a smart choice.
VERDICT
Overall, I was disappointed with how A Quiet Place Part II turned out. The first film had an emotional story and provided a theater experience, like no other. The sequel, on the other hand, had lazy writing and barely any intense scenes for a story that added nothing to the characters audiences once loved. On its own, A Quiet Place Part II is a decent horror movie that provides phenomenal acting performances and introduces creative ideas for the franchise, but as a sequel to a unique and well-respected thriller, it falls flat in almost every aspect. With A Quiet Place: Day One releasing on June 28th, let’s hope this entry doesn’t make the same mistakes.
Rating: 7.5/10
