A Quiet Place Part 2

Modern day horror has problems maintaining success in any followups to solid features. There's always that risk of fresh factor being solid in whatever antics are continued on from before. Even the news of having a bigger budget than the low one from a predecessor won't mean much if an experience won't be maintained. This brings us to A Quiet Place Part 2, which was written and directed by John Krasinski. Admittedly I haven't given the predecessor any revisit since it didn't stick with me much but I appreciated how good it was with its premise. This sequel, however, has been given troubles before it released due to the pandemic delaying it the release and affecting interest in it. I started going back to theaters and this horror followup was on my watchlist. After watching it, however, I was letdown by the execution and wanted to like it way more than I did.

What's it about? Taking place immediately after the events of its predecessor, the story follows the surviving family trying to move forward in their dangerous predicament. It is nice seeing more world building aspects in an environment where humanity was attacked by blind creatures hunting using sound. There's a pretty good flashback sequence in the beginning that eases the audience into being reacquainted with the main characters as well as the threat. The sound design does a nice job with the noises of the monsters as well as a deaf family members perspective. Something funny to note is that the amount of camera shots of feet here (trying to increase tension) would make this a film Quinten Tarantino would like given how often you see feet in that directors movies.

That being said, it unfortunately falls prey to sequel problems primarily with the screenplay. The narrative as a whole plays very similarly to the first film and it gets predictably distracting (esp. the abrupt ending). The scare factor is mostly neutered here as being familiar with the weaknesses of the creatures and recognizing plot armor doesn't raise the stakes at all. Something else that stood out was the pacing as it felt like it was slogging along making its short runtime feel like its 10-15 minutes longer than it actually is. Due to how the group gets split up halfway through, there are moments where it padding it added to try and create forced conflict with the monsters. 

 

How are the actors? In regards to story importance, the actors to focus on are Cillian Murphy and Millicent Simmonds. Cillian does a solid performance with his newly introduced role and blends well enough in his vocal and body acting (to be honest I didn't recognize it was him due to his facial hair until I looked it up). Millicent is an MVP among the cast primarily with having the most screen time and does a bit more with her part than she did before. Honorable mentions Emily Blunt and Noah Jupe with both of them doing solid work despite how limited their roles end up becoming for plot purposes later on.

 

Overall Consensus: A Quiet Place Part 2 is a serviceable horror thriller with good acting, decent world building, and cool sudden moments, but suffers from sequel screenplay problems and pacing troubles. ⭑⭑⭑1/2 Runtime: 1 hour 36 minutes PG-13

 

Reasons to watch it: You are a fan of the aforementioned actors and/or filmmaker John Krasinski. You liked A Quiet Place Part 1 and are curious about this. You like sound based hunting in thrillers. 

 

Reasons to avoid it: You aren't a fan of the aforementioned actors and/or filmmaker John Krasinski. You liked A Quiet Place Part 1 but aren't curious about this. You dislike sound based hunting in thrillers. You aren't in the mood for predictable narrative structures with slow pacing problems.