4.5 Stars
For my 70th movie review, I am excited (although late) to provide my review for the critically acclaimed thriller A Quiet Place. John Krasinski, best known for his role as Jim from the TV series The Office, helped to write the script that was first conceived in 2014. Krasinski also directed A Quiet Place
and stars as one of the few characters in this intense horror story
that currently holds an unheard of Rotten Tomatoes "fresh" rating of
95%.
The year is 2020, and the film opens up 89 days after the invasion or event or whatever happened when the monsters came and wiped out much of the human race. A Quiet Place opens with the sound of leaves rustling in the streets of what looks to be an empty town. Inside a convenience store, we see the Abbott family scavenging for supplies and medicine for their oldest son Marcus (Noah Jupe), the middle of three children. Mom Evelyn (Emily Blunt) finds the necessary medicine while their oldest child and only daughter Regan (Millicent Simmonds) walks carefully and quietly around the store barefoot with her youngest brother Beau. They all communicate through sign language and we also see by the hearing aid she wears that Regan is hearing impaired. The youngest is intrigued by a space shuttle toy and tries to remove it from a shelf that is too tall. He drops the shuttle, but Regan is able to stop it from hitting the ground making what could prove to be a sound that could cost them all their lives. Father Lee (John Krasinski) comes in the store to guide them home. He sees Beau carrying the shuttle and takes it from him and carefully removes the batteries and explains that the sound is too loud and that the monsters will hear it. Out of compassion for her brother, Regan sneaks him the shuttle to his delight. What none of them sees is that Beau also swipes the batteries for the shuttle. I won't give away everything, but that leads to our first glimpse of the monsters who are driven by ultra-sensitive hearing. The tagline for the movie is, "If they hear you, they hunt you".
The movie advances about a year forward and Evelyn is now pregnant as we witness their daily and nightly routines in silence. We see them all walking barefoot to avoid making
noises, communicating in sign language, hand washing clothes, playing
board games with pieces of cotton to remain as silent as possible. Everywhere around their property and all the way through the woods and into town, they regularly lay down trails of sand to walk on to dull the sounds of their feet walking. There are paint marks on the floor to mark where it is safe to walk without making noise.
Lee takes Marcus out into the woods to a river to check on their fish traps for food. Marcus doesn't want to go, but Lee knows it's important for him to learn to be a protector and provider. It's also there that a roaring waterfall provides a wonderful moment between the two. Marcus is terrified of the creatures but Lee teaches him that if there is a louder noise to distract the monsters, they can make noise themselves. They take turns screaming into the waterfall and talking. On the way home, they encounter an old man standing alone in the woods. Lee signals to the
man not to make a sound, but he lets out a scream that prompts one of
the aliens to attack as Lee and his son run away.
And that's where the already intense movie escalates to a full on heart-stopping thrill ride that won't let you catch your breath for a moment. The final half hour of the movie grabs you when you're already on edge and sucks the air right out of you taking you from one frightening moment to another. There is no break or down time to ever catch your breath. I've said it
before, it's hard to make a good, smart scary movie anymore. So much is
gimmicks and sound effects and not real content that makes for a good
story. Get Out is the most recent one that comes to mind and that was a
rare gem. A Quiet Place is just as original and entertaining. I'm gave it a 4 Star Prediction, but I'm raising it to 4.5 Stars, nearly perfect and a movie I can't wait to see again and definitely own for my personal collection.
I really only had two reservations.
First, because the film is based on near total silence, I hoped sharp,
sudden tones or sound effects wouldn't be the sole method of frightening the
audience. And really, it was only done once and who cares about a raccoon? In fact, the score perfectly set the tone while not falsely creating moments in the movie. A wonderfully effective technique of sound that was used in the movie was that every time the camera focused solely on Regan, the few sounds you could hear would stop completely, giving the audience a glimpse into her personal world.
Second, because it's aliens, the creatures' realism played an integral part for audiences to fully buy into the film. They are revealed bits at a time throughout the film, building in anticipation and terror leading to a truly horrible villainous monster.
Finally, it needs to be noted that A Quiet Place isn't just a horror film. Just as importantly, this is a family film. No, it's not exactly family friendly, but it's about love, loyalty, roles, trust, sacrifice. And the role of the family is not just a side note, it's just as important to this film as the monsters are. In fact, another wonderful aspect of the film is how terrifying it is without very much blood or very many gruesome scenes at all. Those details, director Krasinski left up to the viewer. The depth of this movie with so little dialogue set the bar to a new standard for the horror genre of the future. So, what movie will be on my mind next? We shall see.
