A Quiet Place: Part II review

A QUIET PLACE: PART II: 

HORROR SEQUEL DELIVERS PLENTY OF SCARES! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

PARAMOUNT PICTURES

Emily Blunt in A Quiet Place: Part II

 

            Those sound-hunting monsters are back for more terror in A Quiet Place: Part II, the highly anticipated sequel to the 2018 horror smash hit directed by and starring Jim from The Office himself, John Krasinski (The Office, Leatherheads, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi) alongside his real-life wife, Emily Blunt (Looper, Edge of Tomorrow, Sicario). The first film was a very pleasant surprise and one of the most unique and spine-tingling horror films I’ve seen in recent years.

            I remembered seeing the trailer for the first movie and was very interested by it at first until I saw that it was being produced by Michael Bay (Bad Boys 1 and 2, The Rock, Transformers franchise) under his Platinum Dunesstudio and I started to get skeptical because Bay and Platinum Dunes’ track records especially when it comes to financing and producing horror movies haven’t been all that hot with some exceptions like 2016’s Ouija: Origin of Evil. 

            However, my doubts were quickly pushed aside upon seeing the film and I ended up really enjoying the first movie. I got wrapped up in the story and characters and indulged in the chilling suspense and terror around every corner…and with very little dialogue to boot, it truly was a horror movie that exceeded all expectations and broke the mold. 

            So, naturally due to its huge critical and commercial success, a sequel was quickly greenlit with Krasinski returning to direct and Blunt reprising her role as Evelyn. I was slightly hesitant when it was first announced because I thought the first film ended on a strong note that tied pretty much all the loose strings together and felt very self-contained.

            Nevertheless, I was still interested in seeing how they would continue the story and if it would be a worthy successor to the previous film. It’s been quite a wait not going to lie, the film was originally scheduled to be released last year in 2020 and even had its world premiere that year but its wide release was pushed back over a year later due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

            Now that it’s finally been released, is A Quiet Place: Part II the horror sequel we’ve been waiting for? Honestly, yes. It doesn’t do much new this time around, but it does an ample job at expanding the world of this franchise and continuing the story serving more as a direct continuation to its predecessor literally starting immediately after where the first film ended, and with plenty of bone-chilling terror and Blunt giving a million percent as always. 

            The film follows Evelyn Abbott (Blunt) and her children, Regan (Millicent Simmonds-Wonderstruck, Andi Mack, This Close) and Marcus (Noah Jupe-Wonder, Ford v. Ferrari, Honey Boy) as well as Evelyn’s newborn baby continuing their fight for survival against the blind monsters with enhanced hearing. They soon stumble across Emmett (Cillian Murphy-Batman Begins, Red Eye, Sunshine), an old friend of their deceased father, Lee (Krasinski) who takes them into his bunker for protection from the monsters. Knowing what the monsters’ weakness is (Transmitting Regan’s cochlear implant hearing aid’s noise through a microphone and radio) and discovering a radio signal playing Beyond the Sea on a loop, Regan ventures out on her own to find the radio tower and transmit the high-frequency noise her hearing aid makes to hopefully destroy these monsters once and for all. 

            The film also stars Djimon Hounsou (Amistad, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Shazam!), Scott McNairy (Argo, Gone Girl, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), and Okieriete Onaodowan (Hamilton, Grey’s Anatomy, Person to Person). 

            Overall, A Quiet Place: Part II offers a worthy successor to the first film even if it doesn’t quite have its creative spark. There are some legitimately nerve-wracking scenes in this film and very often these suspenseful moments slowly build tension before the inevitable scare, for the most part they’re very effective scares that feel warranted and aren’t just an overabundance of cheap jump scares and excessive gore (Though, there is a handful of jump scares in this film!). 

            Much like the first film, sound is a pivotal part of this movie and it’s used extremely well especially with the deaf girl where the sound fades out and her moments are practically silent. It finds very clever and unique ways to integrate sound into the story after all, this is supposed to be a world where if you make even the tiniest sound, it could result in your inevitable demise. 

            Even though it hits a lot of familiar grounds as its predecessor, not once does it feel like a rehash of the first film. The best way I can describe is like the Quiet Place/horror movie equivalent of The Two Towers where it’s a small piece of one larger story that expands on its world and characters, I especially liked how the deaf girl was given a more prominent role this time and she is arguably the main character of this movie instead of Emily Blunt, she’s off doing her thing while her mother and brother protect themselves and the baby from the monsters. 

            The film also ends in a similar fashion to the first movie and while I’m not always the biggest fan of abrupt endings in horror movies (Spiral!), this one doesn’t feel forced and I’m assuming it’s set-up for a possible third movie which I must say I’d be down to see. 

            A Quiet Place: Part II offers more of what made the original so engaging and bone-chilling while also expanding upon its world and characters with great effect. If you’re a fan of the first film then you’ll probably love A Quiet Place: Part II, just don’t make a sound in the theater, you’ve been warned!