A Quiet Place Day One
Review by Mark Woodring
Creating a successful sequel to a hit film is difficult. Creating a successful PREQUEL to a successful film is, perhaps, even more difficult. After the unexpected success of the original A Quiet Place, followed by the nearly as good sequel, A Quiet Place Part II, the idea of another film in this universe was a given.
But getting A Quiet Place Day One to the theaters wasn’t a smooth road. After losing the original director (Jeff Nichols, ironically also in theaters now with the exceptional film The Bikeriders) tapped to replace John Krasinsky in the director’s chair to “creative differences” (that old chestnut), they landed a less experienced director in Michael Sarnosky.
Sarnosky, of course, is perhaps best known as the director of the recent Nicolas Cage stunner Pig (a film we love here at VSMP).
**NOTE:You can read Mark’s review below, then use the links to listen or watch as he and Ryan discuss the film in more depth. Remember, though, you can listen to all our discussions of this and every other movie directly over on ACAST. Stay tuned.**
100 Minutes, Rated PG-13
Written by: Michael Sarnosky, John Krasinski, and Bryan Woods
Directed by: Michael Sarnosky
Synopsis:
A woman named Samira finds herself trapped in New York City during the early stages of an invasion by alien creatures with ultrasonic hearing.
Prequels are tricky things. We know where the story is destined to go, and we’ve theoretically been given a lot of backstory already in order to make the original film(s) flow, so telling an earlier story carries the risk of stepping on things the audience has already learned and/or believes about the world they’re visiting.
How do you mitigate that glaring possibility? By not expanding the world, as sequels tend to do, but by shrinking it and making it more intimate.
On Day One, we are introduced to Samira, who is in hospice care, waiting to die from, presumably, cancer. On a group trip into the city, fiery objects fall from the sky (as seen in the trailers) and the alien carnage begins.
Samira finds herself alone, except for her support cat, Frodo, trying to survive long enough to make it to Harlem: her home.
She finds two children hiding inside a fountain, giving us the Easter Egg of speech from the original film, and witnesses hundreds – thousands – trying to make their way quietly to an evacuation point at the docks. It’s funny; the people think they’re being quiet, but they shuffle their feet, drag rolling suitcases along the street, and push squeaky wheelchairs.
Yes, the monsters find them.
Encountering Joseph Quinn’s Eric, she begrudgingly accepts his companionship, and an unlikely friendship is formed as the pair – and Frodo – endure the trials of navigating a devastated New York City, with every footstep or thoughtless gesture possibly resulting in a sound, bringing down the wrath of the monsters.
As Samira slowly fades, they hatch a plan to reach the boats and make their escape from Manhattan.
The films climaxes (and Frodo survives) with a grand gesture of friendship, and ends on a dark – yet ultimately uplifting – note.
And I love that kind of darkness in an ending sometimes, because sometimes it’s absolutely appropriate. Good doesn’t always triumph (at least in the conventional way).
All in all, A Quiet Place Day One is at least the equal – and is possibly better than – Part II. It also serves as another unique thematic entry in the trilogy: A Quiet Place shows us how to live in this frightening new world; Part II shows humanity as it attempts to reclaim its lost world; Day One shows how our world ended.
It’s a complete trilogy now. Hopefully it stays that way, with no further entries.
Not everything needs to run forever.
A Quiet Place Day One is in theaters this Friday and stars Lupita Nyong’o, Joseph Quinn, Alex Wolff, and Djimon Hounsou.
And remember, if the BEST thing you can say about a movie is that it’s “visually stunning,” then they’ve done something wrong.
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