A movie like A Quiet Place appears to have all the ingredients to be the kind of original film that will keep people talking for a while. And even though I didn’t know anything about it before actually watching it, I knew there was a chance for that to be the case. That was one of the reasons why I was excited about it, but it was also why I ended up being somewhat disappointed with how it all worked out.
Set in a not too distant future, a young family and everyone that surrounds them lives in almost complete silence. The reason for that is because a set of mysterious creatures that hunt solely by sound dominate the area and are a constant threat to existence of mankind. With them around, noise has become a thing of the past since making too much of it will get you killed in a matter of seconds.
In the opening scenes, you witness something that lays out what kind of world we’re visiting and what kind of lives these people are being forced to live in. Since I didn’t know anything about it ahead of time, this was all new to me and gave me the chance to become connected to all of what was being offered. That’s what I was hoping for as what’s here is enjoyable and compelling while easily filling you up with a sense what’s to come may be even better.
This is what an opening act of a film is supposed to do. The problem here is that it lingers on too long as what else is featured during this portion of the act becomes stale. This is mainly due to us needing to watch the family move in silence as they do day to day activities. I guess some people might not have as much of an issue with this since these scenes could be viewed as a way to allow us to stay in this world a little longer. As for myself, I found it a bit tedious since I have no interest in watching people doing chores.
I would usually suggest eliminating these scenes, but that wouldn’t work here since the movie isn’t all that long. In fact, it’s barely over an hour and twenty minutes if you don’t include the credits. This is obviously important since in order for a movie to be considered a feature-length film, it has to be at least that long. If that weren’t the case, I would say shave about fifteen to twenty minutes of this off so that we get a better movie that focuses mostly on what we came here for.
Once we move on from the most mundane portions of A Quiet Place, things begin to pick up as we are ushered toward the sections of the film that hope to pay off on the early promise that was shown. The horror elements begin to unfold and everything becomes engaging again. During this time, the element of silence is still used and will probably add to the tension for the viewers who are able to get lost in the foreign world that these characters exist in.
A significant portion of what’s being showcased here helps the movie move forward as most would hope. To do that however, there are many things that take place and help to get us to where we need to be that are simply too convenient. While I want to see this as an intelligent picture, it ends up not being that since they resort to making the characters dumb at times in order to make it all fit into place like they need it to.
Of course, this is a pet peeve of mine since filmmakers essentially make it easier for themselves when they definitely shouldn’t in these circumstances. This really shouldn’t ever be done, but it’s harder to forgive when you have three writers taking part in putting this screenplay together. In a scenario like this, I expect at least one to come up with some stuff more plausible and sensible than they do here. If you’re unable to do that, then we have a problem.
Another thing that kind of got to me was the fact that I was able to figure out who would and who wouldn’t survive without knowing anything about the movie beforehand. And while watching it, this became even more predictable in the early going. This lessens the impact of many of the scares and situations that are supposed to build tension. Not only that, it makes much of it feel less original than it should.
In spite of some significant issues, A Quiet Place will likely please most of the people who see it. Even though it’s one of those movies that falls a part if you think about it too much or ask too many questions, it’s a good enough horror movie that won’t leave you completely disappointed. I just wish it was more intelligent and didn’t rely on things that we’ve already seen in some popular movies that came before it. Just working on those two aspects makes this much better even with some of the other missteps still being present.
Rating: R
Director: John Krasinski
Cast:
Emily Blunt
John Krasinski
Millicent Simmonds
Noah Jupe
Film Length: 90 minutes
Release Date: April 6, 2018
Distributor: Paramount Pictures