Finally! It was ripped from my grasp back when COVID first hit in March of last year, but at long last I’m reviewing A Quiet Place Part II! I’m genuinely excited to be discussing this as I never got the chance to talk about the first A Quiet Place, one of the most tense viewing experiences of my life. A simple concept of one family needing to tip toe in a apocalyptic world because if they don’t they’ll be murdered by giant blind unstoppable monsters. It’s great, but what about the long awaited sequel, let’s discuss that shall we.
Despite it being just under three years since seeing the first movie, the plots to these movies are so basic that I jumped into this new one with no problems. After the exciting opening flashback the second movie disappointingly ignores the awesome cliffhanger that ended the first movie. I guess it’s a necessary evil in order to move the plot along so they can resolve the main goal of the first movie, which is gaining contact with other survivors. Emily Blunt and the kids meet Cillian Murphy, a lone survivor who has pretty much given up all hope. That’s until the deaf girl deciphers a radio message that there may be a refuge where the big monsters can’t get them. That’s our premise and it gets a little more complicated when our characters split up halfway through the film. Deaf girl and Cillian Murphy get into some hijinks as they journey to the promised land, while mum goes to the drug store to take care of the injured boy and baby.
John Krasinski returns to direct and continues to deliver on the bleak atmosphere and tension that made the first movie so stress inducing. A welcome addition to the horror aspect is a new action element because not only are we fighting off monsters, but also bad human survivors, which is neat. The spider like CG monsters are back, looking better than before, and just as scary as before. The acting from the kids and Emily Blunt is very good. Also Cillian Murphy is a good addition to the cast as his scenes with the deaf girl were probably the highlight.
My only real negatives are that certain parts of the writing are terrible, as the movie pulls some pretty dirty bad horror movie tactics. I like the kids, but damn they can be empty headed! If someone tells them to stay put obviously they will do the complete opposite. I know they want to prove themselves to the adults, but this is a horror movie so they’re always destined to put themselves in danger, so that one of the adults has to save them. Urgh! At least they didn’t get anyone killed unlike the idiot kids on The Walking Dead. The worst contrivance award goes to how the monsters show up to wreck everything in the finale, which I won’t share specifics of, but let’s just say I was groaning. There isn’t that much more to say, but this movie sets itself up for an inevitable third movie, that doesn’t leave much to the imagination.
In the end, A Quiet Place Part II never reaches the greatness of the first, but it’s still a good movie. I’ll definitely be getting this on DVD at some point so it can sit on my shelf with the first. If you’re interested in watching A Quiet Place Part II it’s in cinemas now and I’m sure it’ll be on VOD at some point.
