With movie theaters opening back up across the United States in abundance, people like myself are finally heading back to their big screened sanctuaries. With the anticipation of the butter filled aroma and the unnecessarily large sodas, I made my way to the local Regal to see one of the most highly anticipated movies since the previous year – A Quiet Place Part II. With this movie being just days away from its release in March of 2020, before the whole world shut down due to Covid, I couldn’t wait to get back outside to see if the wait was worth it. Was the wait worth it and is this the movie to help lead the charge of long awaited movies stacked up for 2021 releases? Let’s dive right into it.
Just like my other reviews, spoilers lie ahead, so you have been warned!
A Quiet Place Part II is a 2021 horror/thriller that leads off right where the original ended. With Lee Abbott (John Krasinski) sacrificing himself to save the family and the house they have been fortified in being compromised due to the fight with the alien lifeforms, Evelyn (Emily Blunt) and the children must trek into unknown territory to find other people that can help them stay alive. While heading north on their journey, they come into contact with Emmet (Cillian Murphy), an old town friend, who has to make the choice on whether he wants to take them in and help them – or continue to survive alone like he has for the last few years.
I want to say right off the top that this movie was great, and met all of the high expectations that I have held for the past year and some months. John Krasinski was able to take all of the things that worked from the first movie and expand them into this open world to give the audience insight on what the rest of the world has been doing, and also what led up to the events before these auditory attentive aliens wreaked havoc on a sonically suffused world. The cast from the original movie all brought the same intensity that they had from the previous movie, and Cillian Murphy was a great addition to the cast as well as a great contrast for who John Krasinski’s character was in the original. Lee Abbott was bold and didn’t second guess any decisions he made for his family when he was around to protect them. Emmet is introduced as timid and unsure of his decisions to help the family since he hasn’t had to help anyone since Day 1 of this invasion. They did balance that out with adding a stronger and more heroic characteristic to the daughter, Regan (Millicent Simmonds) and her journey to be the one to save her family after losing their father. In the original movie, her and her father have a struggling relationship right until just before he is killed by an alien to save her and the brother, Marcus (Noah Jupe). They don’t exclusively say it, but I believe that she steps up to try to be the hero for her family because of her lost chance to connect with her father in the previous movie and to try to fill his shoes because of it.
I did think that, because the movie ended with Emily Blunt wielding a shotgun and being able to terminate the sound seeking creatures, that this sequel would be like Aliens; more fire power and even more carnage. While there was some more gun play involved, there wasn’t too much to say it was anywhere near comparable to Aliens. There also wasn’t any mother alien involved, but who knows where the third movie will take us – which has already been announced to be released in March of 2023. I did also enjoy the inclusion of other humans and the changes they would go through to be able to survive during post apocalyptic circumstances. While it is easy to be able to compare that aspect of the movie to storylines like the critically acclaimed video game The Last of Us, I do think it was important to include it in this movie since we do know that other people were alive in the previous film.
I don’t have too many things that I disliked about the movie but I am about to get into some major spoilers here, so I am warning you again that if you haven’t seen the movie – come back later!
With the original movie being a huge success that I am sure the writers, producers, and studio executives didn’t really see coming – there are a few things that don’t really make sense in this movie as far as aligning to the world building of the first movie. There are newspaper clippings that we see in the original movie that make it seem like it took days or maybe even weeks to get to the town that the Abbott family were in, which gave them time to figure out what the monsters were attracted to and how they could survive what was coming. In this movie we see that they were attacked on day one of the invasion and also, somehow, John Krasinski’s character was able to figure out right away that the aliens were attracted to sound. These hiccups aren’t a huge misfortune to the movie and the enjoyment out of it, but it is something to be noted. My absolute biggest gripe that I do have with this movie, and that I have with most movies, is that we need more respect for Djimon Honsou. He’s in the trailers and commercials for this movie and isn’t introduced until about the last 15 minutes of the movie. Even with the minimal screen time he does have, he gives us an incredible performance and a very touching monologue about how he and his family were able to survive the first wave of attacks. I was excited at the thought of him being a main character for the following movie, since he was introduced so late in this sequel, just for him to die. It honestly really pissed me off, if I’m being honest. He is one of the most underappreciated actors in Hollywood. He’s constantly dying or being taken off the screen after a short and memorable scene, and it’s infuriating. I just want more justice for my man.
Even with me enjoying the film as much as I did and highly recommending it, if you are not in a rush to head back out into the world or head to your nearest silver screen stomping grounds, I completely understand. A Quiet Place Part II has been announced to be streaming on Paramount+ by mid-July so if the FOMO has not taken over, then that might be your best bet. With the 3rd instalment of this film already announced and a date already set, I am very excited to see where this universe takes us and what could be the next steps for the Abbott family and their fight for survival.
Elijah Horton is a Long Island born, Orlando-based writer and photographer. Since he was a kid, Elijah has had a deep passion for movies, music, and photography.
That passion led him to Full Sail where he graduated with a film degree and a desire to make a film of his own one day. For now he’s just pretty good at writing about them.