Posted by A family equipped with a faulty hearing aid and a shotgun take on blind aliens in this sequel to 2018’s hit horror.
I’m not a fan of horror movies. Maybe it’s the gore, maybe it’s the tension, maybe it was my older brother tricking me into watching a Chucky movie aged just 5 – who knows? But when Emily Blunt stars in a movie, I pay attention. That was certainly the case for the original movie, which I thoroughly enjoyed in the comfort of my living room whilst hiding behind Mrs Oddfather. This time the conditions were different. I was given a single unlimited cinema pass for Father’s Day the day prior, so I had no one to hide behind in a cinema screen containing only 3 other individuals. So how did the sequel compare to the original? And more importantly, how did I manage on my own?
After an enjoyable preface showing day one, the movie picks up where the original film left off. The Abbott family are no longer with their father and seek refuge with newly introduced Emmett, a broken man played wonderfully by Cillian Murphy. With a new-born baby in tow, the stakes are predictably high. Very quickly the party is split into a search for a safe haven, a mission to find medical supplies, and staying at home to babysit.
Director Jim Halpert John Krasinski switches between these 3 narratives using a cross-cutting technique, which whilst showing the parallels between each group’s journey, ultimately doesn’t work as well as it could have. Perhaps it’s the frustrating choices the boy (I forget his name) makes. I feel the character is supposed to be younger than the actor appears, the actor having aged in between the original and sequel – apparently kids grow! And maybe if he were younger the choices would make more sense. That being said, his portrayal of fear is done quite well, and he does end the movie as a bit of a bad ass akin to Emily Blunt’s final scene in the original movie. Speaking of Emily Blunt, she doesn’t appear as much as I’d have liked in this movie – in all fairness any movie can do with more Emily Blunt, but the scenes she is in are great. It seems like this sequel is focussed on the growth of the children in this post-apocalyptic world. On that, I can’t not mention Millicent Simmonds’ Regan – her scenes with Emmett are the most captivating in the movie.
The sound design of this film is pretty terrific, which is no surprise given what came before. This movie isn’t as quiet as its predecessor, but still makes use of the quiet moments to build the tension. I purposely stayed away from buying popcorn as I didn’t want to be “that guy” chomping away and ruining the silent experience. The visual effects too were spot on. The alien monsters are truly disgusting, but it’s their speed that keeps you on the edge of your seat as at any moment you know a situation can turn on its head. Overall, I didn’t find the movie too terrifying. There were the expected couple of jump scenes but otherwise I left the cinema with my pants firmly dry.
At its conclusion, the movie neatly finishes each story arc. But I feel a bit robbed of the coming together of the family – I’m a sucker for a good old happy ending where everything is tied up. Maybe it’s purposely left open for another sequel, or to let viewers use their imaginations to come up with their own ending. But I don’t pay for a movie ticket to use my imagination… I go to a movie to switch my brain off. I want answers dammit!
Verdict
A Quiet Place Part II is a movie worthy of the original, if not reaching quite the same heights. I’d say it was worth the wait of a year during this pandemic and I’d be interested in a third movie if it doesn’t become too formulaic. At the end of the day, I’m just proud I got through a horror movie without experiencing nightmares and wetting the bed!
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