A Quiet Place Part II

 

A watchable and competent sequel to the original that held more thrills than scares. John Krasinski remained an effective director and his approach to presenting a story and editing did help to ratchet up the tension in two effective sequences. However, as a screenwriter, his storytelling lacked finesse. And even in a film that essentially had minimal dialogue the clunkiness was apparent. Krasinski asked his audience to suspend most logic and critical thinking, make wide and large assumptions, and just enjoy the ride. 

Thankfully, the ride was enjoyable and his stars were more than compelling and engaging. 

Blunt, having much less to do this round, took over as the pillar of strength and stoicism. 

But this film belonged to Millicent Simmonds. The last outing's MVP had been elevated to the main star of this film and she rose to the occasion. As the heart of the film, her thread was the A-plot and she was definitely a heroine that we were rooting to win. The only thing going against her was that it never really felt that she was in any kind of danger. 

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This was true for all the cast. They were never going to kill Blunt. Noah Jupe - the Jupe - made stupid (the stupidest!) decisions but his life was never in jeopardy. They were never going to kill a baby. So that left newcomer Cillian Murphy. 

Murphy was a welcomed addition to this cinematic family and he had an easy chemistry with Simmonds. Also, he exuded a similar 28 Days Later -like vibe which was oddly comforting for his role. The only way he would die was a heroic death a la Krasinski, but if Krasinski did so then the film would seemed more repetitive than it already is. 

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The show's universe got expended a little more but not much new is glimpsed. The beats felt the same and the creatures/aliens felt as they were - maybe even a little less scary since we know what they are and how they looked like now. 

The prologue showed lots of promise in terms of the plot and Krasinski's directing, but just like the film itself, as exciting as it was, the end of the prologue was riddled with questions and doubts. Perhaps it would have been a lot more fun to spend more time in the past than in the future, building the foundation of this world a little bit more sturdier before aiming for the heavens.

Nonetheless, this was a good end-of-pandemic cinematic experience. A fun watch in the cinema with a crowd - albeit smaller than usual - and much better than the previous cinematic films like Tenet or WW84. Here is hoping Marvel will save the cinemas as it did on television recently.