Blunt remains one of Hollywood’s most reliably interesting action performers, swinging between the extremes of vulnerability and boldness that make perfect sense for a terrified, bereaved mother of three.
I’m reluctant to reveal many details since suspense is so vital to a film like this, but there’s plenty else of note. Soon we jump forward in time, to the moments after A Quiet Place ended, and pick up the story from there.
#A QUIET PLACE PART 2 HOW TO#
Krasinski returns to this sequel as director and sole writer (he co-wrote the first film), and he has a good sense of how to build tension in what we’re seeing and what we’re hearing. The opening sequences of A Quiet Place Part II feel obviously influenced by Spielbergian visions of apocalyptic catastrophe (there are echoes of War of the Worlds everywhere). Suddenly, fireballs from the sky crash onto the field, and havoc breaks loose. Nearby on the bleachers, gruff neighbor Emmett (Cillian Murphy) hangs onto his radio and watches his kids play. Evelyn (Blunt) and Lee (Krasinski) keep tabs on their three kids: daring Regan (Millicent Simmonds), who is deaf timid Marcus (Noah Jupe), swinging away at home plate and curious Beau (Dean Woodward), hanging onto the fence and watching his big brother play.
On day one of the rest of their lives - not in a good way - the Abbott family are in their quiet New England hamlet with their neighbors, watching a Little League baseball game. A Quiet Place Part II starts in the story’s past. It’s sincere and bittersweet, and it clearly tapped into something that moved audiences.Īnd, for the most part, it does. And I think that’s why it was such a hit: It delivers some excellent jump scares and whittles down a common theme in horror - keeping your kids alive in a world that’s trying to kill them - to its essence. It’s a remarkably restrained film, mostly taking place over the course of one day, filling in only the barest background details, and letting us focus singularly on the terror of staying alive, and protecting vulnerable children, too. The world outside their home is stalked by alien-monsters who are triggered into murderous rage by noise of any kind. The premise is simple: A family of five lives alone in the woods. Setting aside its star power (namely, Emily Blunt and John Krasinski), it was not obviously poised for success more than any other horror film. Also, some of the screenplay’s conceptions of how society has disintegrated don’t really track.When A Quiet Place appeared in theaters in April 2018, it was a worldwide smash hit, and I’ve spent a while since then trying to figure out why. Unlike last time and even at a tight 97 minutes, there are longueurs, and Krasinski fumbles moments of cross-cutting three lines of action, dissipating rather than generating tension. Instead, and not before a moment that will make you truly wince, they find Emmett ( Cillian Murphy in the trademarked survivalist uniform of cap and big beard), an old neighbour from the pre-invasion days whose run-ins with the creatures has unravelled his life and worldview.Īt this point, Krasinski (who has a sole screenwriting credit this time) decides to split up the protagonists - with some characters on a mission that might just see off the creatures completely (surprisingly key to this endeavour is an easy-listening standard) and others left behind to hold Emmett’s very small fort - and it’s here that the film’s grip starts to lessen. The Abbotts - mother Evelyn ( Emily Blunt), deaf daughter Regan (Millicent Simmonds, still the series’ MVP), son Marcus (Noah Jupe) and baby Abbott, who is carried around in a post-apocalypse-proofed carrycot - decide to leave home on a quest to find civilisation. Unlike last time, and even at a tight 97 minutes, there are longueurs.įast-forwarding to day 474, the action picks up just after the events of the first film (there are some not-so-subtle reminders of that nail and that bath).