Film Review: A Quiet Place Part II (2020)

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SYNOPSIS:

Following the events at home, the Abbott family now face the terrors of the outside world. Forced to venture into the unknown, they realize the creatures that hunt by sound are not the only threats lurking beyond the sand path.

REVIEW:

It’s time to hush up once again as the intimidating, blind, and hyper-sensitive to noise creatures that burnt your nerves to a crisp in 2018 are back in John Krasinki’s sequel to his own hit feature film: “A Quiet Place Part II”. Don’t. Make. A sound.

“Part II” starts off with a clearer depiction of what happened on the first day where everything went downhill. I won’t ruin it for anyone, but let’s just say that a calm, enjoyable little league baseball game was rudely interrupted and nothing was ever the same again. We witness how brave and intelligent Lee (John Krasinski) was in keeping his family alive in high-action, high-stress scenes right from the start. Fast forward 450+ days and we resume right where the Abbott family (or what’s left of them) left us at the conclusion of the first chapter: on the destroyed, flooded and burning farm property owned by that same family. Evelyn (Emily Blunt), her two older children, Regan and Marcus (Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe) and her baby boy set off to find a new place to reside in the most silent way possible. Unfortunately, as they’re about to find out, not everyone still alive is worth saving.

We pick up with the characters we’ve loved and gotten attached to through anxiety and anguish. To be honest, the first “Quiet Place” was literally one of the most stressful movies I have ever seen in my life, so the bar was quite high with this one. Luckily, the opening scene was quite the high entertainment factor, despite being aware of the family’s fate since this was a flashback. We do miss John Krasinki’s character throughout the film, since the loss of Lee Abbott, such a heart-warming and inspirational character, is a difficult void to fill. I do admit that as much as I wanted to be thrilled throughout the entire movie, there was a lull at the mid-way mark that seemed to stretch out. Fortunately, just as you seem to realize that this downfall in momentum occurs, the intensity and anxiety is cranked all the way back up to 10 and beyond, as different characters find themselves in different extremely dangerous and nerve-racking situations.

One of my favorite actors, Cillian Murphy (“28 Days Later”; “Red Eye”; “Batman Begins”), has quite an important role in the storyline and performs beautifully, as always. Then again, Murphy can easily and genuinely portray a beloved protagonist as much as a revered antagonist. As per usual, Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe will succeed in evoking an entire array of heart-felt emotions straight from your soul.

Krasinski directs brilliantly, once again, succeeding at using truly terrifying jumpscares rather than the very tired formula of cranking an audio effect way up in pathetic attempts to surprise the audience. He also utilizes part of the same soundtrack from the first film, only a few times, and managed to bring me back to Lee’s beautiful, yet heart-wrenching, final scene. The integration of a new threat, out in the wild, in addition to the obvious deadly and food pyramid-altering creatures, was a predictable result of the apocalyptic world that it had become, yet will still make you sick to your stomach at how despicable humans can get.

“A Quiet Place Part II” is an absolute must-see for any fans of the first chapter. With a little less suspense than the previous film (as we know a little more what to expect) and missing Lee’s presence, it still packs in an amazing amount of stress, anxiety, anguish, heartache, and countless other emotions; some better than others. I had attributed the excellent grade of 9/10 for the 2018 movie and officially give a great 8/10 to this one. “The Office” fans can now confirm that Krasinski’s success from the initial film wasn’t just a fluke and that the artist behind Jim Halpert sure knows how grasp our attention in a desolate world when things get hard… that’s what she said.