A Quiet Place – Movie Review
After hearing a number of good things about this film, I decided to grab a good friend of mine and have good evening! I did not have this film on my radar too much. Only recently it created a blip on said radar and the film’s runtime, of just 90 minutes, looked very attractive to me. Now if you have seen the trailer you probably understand what the film is about. A world where sound can be your end. Did they manage to create a believable world for that concept and do the performances work? Let’s see.
As far as I understand it’s the second movie by John Krasinski. An actor who made his name by being part of the US version of ‘The Office’. Which I have never seen a single episode of. But I know the British original and the German version. So he’s clearly coming from a comedy angle/background. He recently ventured out and tried himself on other stuff and, from what I can gather, with success. He’s a very charismatic actor and, it seems, very talented director as well. “A quiet place” certainly leaves an impression!
The movie follows family Abott, in a world that’s gone quiet. Evelyn (Emily Blunt), Lee (John Krasinski), Regan (Millicent Simmonds), Marcus (Noah Jupe) and Beau (Cade Woodward). Throughout the film we get some hints to what happened to this world, and very early on are confronted with the tragedies that are possible in this world. Evelyn and Lee do their best to protect their children from this world. And certainly try to prepare them for a life in this world. Therefore it is very easy to slip into the skin of all the characters and their thought process behind every decision they have to make. The script is also smart enough to show and explain how they manage to survive in this world. The subject matter and the execution of the film is very efficient and only goes into detail where it’s absolutely necessary. It does not talk down to its audience and wants the audience to connect certain things on their own. And no, it’s not a complicated film. It is easy to follow. Still, so many films nowadays find it necessary to explain even the most unimportant details. Not so here. And it’s welcome.
As soon as the film starts we understand that the environment the Abotts live in will demand sacrifices and we’re waiting for them to happen. We’re with the family until the end and the film fokusses purely on them. So we see how they manage to live their daily life and what obstacles they have to overcome. The characters are believable and the actors get as much out of the script as possible. Which is great acting by all involved since there really isn’t too much dialogue between the characters going on. Emily Blunt and John Krasinski have good chemistry and it’s nice to see Emily Blunt in a horror movie. She can literally do anything. She’s that good. And John Krasinski, with this film, will put himself on a list for not only hip actors but directors as well. I’m certainly interested in where he’s going next.
So yes, it is a good film. There are some small down sides though. Like so many horror movies these days, we get a number of jump scares here as well. Unfortunately most (not all) these jump scares feel very constructed and just being there for the sake of being there. A tiny bit more info about how the world turned into this mess would have been nice too. Maybe one or two lines. Not more. As stated earlier I did welcome the condensed runtime of the film. But 5-8 more minutes to create some more atmosphere would have maybe worked out nice too. But that really is a minor nitpick. The film, at no point, felt rushed.
It certainly was an interesting experience watching such a quiet film in a dark theater. Probably the best way watching this film! So if you can still catch it… try to!
7.7/10
